A Shoulder to Cry On
by wannabewriter08
Summary: Bella's dad fight in a war. She moves to Virginia and meets Mike. When Mike does something awful, Edward can be her Shoulder to Cry On. Is it possible maybe she can find love again? OOC AU BxM then BxE All Human
1. Goodbye Daddy

**A/N Okay you guys, this is actually a book that I'm writing, but I changed the names and the descriptions so it could be a fanfic so you guys can tell me if you think its any good. So please tell me, this is my first book ever, so feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong.**

**(Disclaimer for the whole story: I do not own Twilight, Edward, Bella, or any of the characters from Twilight. I do however own Ellie, Stephanie, and Jonathone, and any other characters not from the book) **

Prolouge

Another year, another beginning. That's what my mom always told me as a little girl. But of course it has to be a new beginning when you have to travel halfway across the country. As I'm about to board the plane I look up at my dad, knowing I don't know if I will ever see him again. I'm going to go live with me mom again so my dad can go fight in the war. I always knew that it was just a matter of time before they called him to go, I've been hearing on the news that the U.S is short of soldiers. I look up at him with tear filled eyes, to see silent tears running down his face. That pushed me over the edge and before I knew it, I was crying too.

"Good-bye sweetie," He said, "I hope to see you soon." That seemed like a perfectly normal statement until I realized that he couldn't promise, he had to just hope.

"Bye Dad," I choked out between sobs, "I promise to write and tell you all about Chesapeake." Chesapeake, that's where I was heading. All I knew about that place was it was in Virginia, who knows what awaits me.

I stole one more look at my dad, memorizing his every feature, his every wrinkle, every freckle, even though I'm sure I knew it all by heart. I was going to make sure I have his face forever in my memory, just in case this is his last time seeing me.

After one last hug I turned to go on the dreaded plane. I tried to be brave and make this a little easier on my dad. When he thought I was out of ear shot I heard him whisper "Good-bye, my angel, my Bella."


	2. Whos this?

Chapter One

The plane shook, and being the drama queen I was, I started to get worried. See this is my first time flying in a long time so I wasn't sure what to expect. Just as my fears were getting worse, a voice came on the radio. "Attention flyers, we are now landing in Norfolk, Virginia." So here it comes, seeing me mom finally in more than 6 years. I have to admit I was nervous, what if she doesn't like me? What if I didn't turn out the way she planned? All these answers that are swarming through my head would be answered soon enough.

I stepped out of the plane looking into the crowd. Has it really been so long that I couldn't even recognize her? But then I saw her and right away I knew it was her. She had my brown hair, my chocolate brown eyes, and even my pale skin tone. It had to be her!

"Come here darling!" She exclaimed. Obviously she was happy to see me no matter how scared I was.

"Hi mom," I said, "How have you been?" This wasn't as bad as I expected. It was only a little awkward. Since I haven't seen her in six years it was bound to be at least a little bit awkward. At least she didn't seem disappointed in me yet. I was thankful for that, how could I live with a mom for who knows how long if she already didn't like me.

"I've been good. Oh it is so good to see you again. Your going to love your new school, its just wonderful. At least that's what I've heard. And when you get home I have a surprise for you."

"Oh Mom you didn't have to get me anything!" I said. This was very generous of her and very thoughtful. I think I might just like living here.

"But I wanted to, I haven't seen you in so long, that I wanted to do something special for you!"

We pulled into the drive way and I felt my eyes widen. There was a shiny red Viper. It was the car I've always wanted. My mom has the best taste in cars, I hope that she will let me drive it.

"Do you like it?" She asked me.

"Like it? I love it! Do you think maybe you'll let me use this car once in awhile?"

"Of course I will! I bought it for you! This is your car now, your 16 and I thought you may like a way to get around," She told me.

"How did you know what I wanted?" I asked.

"Well, I called your dad and I had some money saved up since he never made me pay for child support, so he told me this is what you wanted. I have to say honey, you have a very good choice in cars." She sounded pretty proud of herself to already be doing things right. I have admit someone who hasn't had and children to live with in years is pretty good at knowing what we want.

"I love it mom thanks! So tell me about my new school and the people there, will I like it? Do you think I'll be accepted there?"

"I'm sure you'll like it just fine. I don't know to much about the kids there, since I don't have a teenager here telling me all these things. So you'll have to tell me all about them and all about the school," She replied.

At that time we were in the house now, it was truly beautiful. I couldn't believe it.

My mom showed me all around the house, it was gorgeous all over. She finally got to my room and it was the room of my dreams. It was huge and had a queen sized bed with a beautiful comforter. I told her I was going to go ahead and unpack. She left the room to give me some privacy.

I wasn't alone for long before I felt a lump in my throat, I really missed my dad. I brushed it off though, I needed to stay strong, at least for him. So I turned to my suitcase and started to unpack. I went to my closet wondering how I would fit everything into it, but when I opened it, I realized it was huge! Now that means I have to go shopping for some new clothes, I need some to fit in there.

All the sudden I froze, I heard someone behind me.

"Mom?" I called. No answer, I saw a shadow coming into my room. So I decided to turn around and see what it was. When I turned around I just stood there, surprised at the person standing in front of me.


	3. What? What about me?

Chapter 2

I screamed, but then felt really stupid. Standing in front of me was a little girl, maybe only six or seven. She had my brown hair and was pretty short. She had chocolate brown eyes and a big chubby of a face. On that face was the biggest smile I've ever seen.

"Bella!" She exclaimed, "I'm so glad I finally get to meet you!"

"Who are you?" I had no idea what was happening, all I knew was that I was really confused and there was a little girl standing in front of me that I've never met before, claiming she knew me.

"I'm your little sister!" She told me, "Didn't mom ever say anything to you about me?"

"Why wasn't I told about this before? Does that mean she has a husband too I need to meet? Why didn't she warn me about this?" I questioned.

"Mom come here! I need to talk to you!" I yelled.

My Mom came running up the stairs and stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait, your up already Ellie? Your supposed to still be asleep."

"Well, I heard Isabella-" She started.

"It's Bella!" I snapped.

"Fine, Bella then, I heard her and I wanted to come meet her. I've been real excited to have her come live with us so I went ahead and come on down here to meet her." Said that little girl claiming to be my sister.

That was sweet that she wanted to meet me, but how did this happen? And when did this happen? Lastly, why didn't my mom warn me before hand that she had another kid?

"I come here, to stay with you mom, and I find out you have a whole new life? So where's my new dad then? I already met my sister." I remarked. "When were you planning on telling me mom? Were we not good enough for you and you like them better? Is that why you haven't contacted me in years hardly at all, because you were happier with them?"

"Well honey, about 7 years ago I got pregnant. But when Phil found out, he left me. You were only nine or ten at the time, do you remember me always leaving? I made a terrible mistake and cheated on your father so we ended up getting divorced. I was so heart broken when Phil left. But after he did, I realized something, I wasn't sure if Ellie is Phil's kid or your father's," She explained.

"So is she my sister or my half sister?" I tried to figure out.

"Well that's where you come in, we need to get a blood test from you to find out if you two are full sisters or not?"

"How do the do that?" Asked Ellie.

My mom said, "They are going to take a little of both of your blood to determine if you have the same parents, we have a doctors appointment for that in one week."

"Oh, so how long ago was it when Phil left?"

"He left when I was only three months pregnant with Ellie." She told me, "But about a month ago he tried contacting me but I've been refusing to see him."

I felt some sympathy for this woman. I know how my dad was when she left. Maybe even though I'm still mad at her I can try and help her out, after all, I'm living here for who knows how long. Might as well not live in hate.

"What do you think you are going to do?"

"I don't know, I'm worried on how that would affect Ellie."

I actually felt guilty, I couldn't believe I was yelling that bad earlier. All she was doing was trying to make our lives easier, and she was going to tell me soon about Ellie. I guess I can forgive her.

"Do you still love him?"

"Yes, I do still love him, even though he deeply hurt me, I never stopped loving him and I don't think I ever will stop. These past years I've thought about him every day, always wondered." She told me.

"I may not be an expert on relationships, but if your feeling are still that strong that must be a sign. If you still miss him, then you should forgive him, he was scared, but if he still cares then I think you should give him another chance. It may end up good."

"Where were you all those years, your such a wise young girl I could have talked to you about all this." She said.

"Yeah about that, how come you never did come in contact with me?" I asked

"Well, honey, I'm really sorry about that, but your father was mad at me. I understand why now though, but still he wouldn't let me talk to you at all."

"Oh, alright I guess its not your fault then. Well lets get on a happier subject do you think I will be accepted at high school?" I asked worridly.

"Honey don't worry yourself with that, the kids are going to love you! But in order for high school to come, you need to sleep."

"Yeah I guess I am tired, jet lag mist have gotten me, but I need to unpack first, so I guess good night mom." I told her.

"Good night sweetie, sweet dreams, I'll see you in the morning."

And with that I realized I couldn't fight it any more, I was really tires. Unpacking would have to wait until tomorrow, so I went ahead and lied down. As I lay there, I thought about all the things that happened today. I realized how much I missed my dad and when I thought about him the tears slowly began to fall. I cried myself to sleep that night wanting to go home, but soon I fell into a deep sleep until that morning.


	4. Nice to meet you Edward

Chapter 3

I woke up early the next day. Boy was I nervous, what if I didn't fit in? I honestly didn't remember the last time I was this nervous. But the weather outside was perfect, I was in a good mood, surely that was a good sign. I would just have to wait and see.

The morning seemed long, and would just drag on, but eventually it was 8:15. That meant it was time to leave. I first have to drive Ellie to school so she doesn't have to ride the bus, then its off to high school. Apparently Ellie is a lot like me when I was a younger girl. She seems to be able to talk for a long time.

"So what time do you leave school?" Ellie asked.

"Well I get out at 3:30 so not long after you."

"Are you going to be home before me?" Came another question.

"I'm not sure, we'll have to wait to find out," I told her.

"Oh, if you are, are you going to be my new baby-sitter? Your in the same grade as Mike, so you should be home early enough," She said.

"No! The one agreement I have with mom is that I am _not_ going to baby sit." I responded.

"Okay, well here's my school, hope you have a good first day. I'll see you later."

"Alright, bye El, have fun!" I shouted before she left. How I missed how she had it, so young, so carefree. No worries that she knows of yet.

Before I knew it I was at my school, there wasn't much to it, just a regular school like my old one back in Dallas.

I walked into the office, half expecting to end up in a wrong room. But here I was, so I went to talk to the lady at the front desk.

"Hello sweetie, you must be our new student Isabella Swan right?" The lady asked.

"Yes that's right, but I prefer to go by Bella. May I have my schedule?"

"Yes, yes of course, just let me find it."

Then she went and disappeared into the back room where all the files were. "Oh yes of course, here it is, so you came here from Dallas huh?" She asked.

"Yes," I said matter of factly.

"What made you move here?" She questioned.

"My father had to go fight in the war."

"Oh, that makes sense, alright here's your schedule. Come back after school if you have any problems."

"Okay I'll make sure to do that." I then glanced down at my schedule. Great, right after homeroom I have gym.

The bell was about to ring so I hurried to homeroom before first bell. There were more kids than I expected. I was actually nervous. Finally some people started to come up and talk to me. One of the first was a pale blonde girl named Stephanie. She was about my short height of 5'1 and had blue eyes, I was worried about talking to her because she had a gothic look to her with the dark eyeliner and the black band shirts and boots. I decided to look past all that so I could get to know her. After all, she was the first person to talk to me.

"Hey my name is Stephanie, what's your?" She asked.

"My name is Bella. I just moved here from Dallas, Texas."

"Oh that's cool, where do you live at?"

"About five miles from here, right off the highway."

"Oh! You live on my street, we should hang out sometime!" She said.

"Yeah sure! That would be fun."

We just kept on talking for a few more minutes before she went to go talk to some

Of her other friends.

Another guy who came to talk to me was a guy named Edward. He was about 6 foot and had messy bronze hair. He also had emarald eyes to die for. He was overall, like a God.

"Hi. My name's Edward, you must be Isabella, where's your first bell at?" He asked.

"Yes I'm Isabella but I prefer Bella and my first bell is gym."

"That's cool, that's my first bell too do you want me to walk you there?" I liked Edward, but I could only see myself friends with him. In fact, I wanted to be his friend.

"I'd like that a lot, thanks."

"So you moved up here from Dallas huh? Why is that?" He asked.

"Well, my parents got divorced when I was about 9 or 10, and I stayed with my dad. But now he has been called into the war, so I came up here to live with my mom."

"Oh wow, that must be rough."

"Yeah it is hard, but we're going to write, and he should be back in a year and a half," I explained.

"Wow that's a pretty long time to be stationed out there."

"That it is, but at least I get to see him again, its not like some people have it," I responded.

"True, my dad dies when I was younger from lung cancer from smoking so much, I really miss him, I loved him so much."

"Oh I'm so sorry, so do you live with just your mom then?" I asked.

"No thank goodness, she's in jail now, she abused me when I was younger so she's in jail. I still love her though, how couldn't I? One way or another she was my mother so I have to love her."

"Oh wow you've been through so much, I'm always here if you need to talk."

"Thanks Bella, alright here's your locker room, I'll see you in a few minutes."

I walked into the locker room to get changed. I'd already bought my gym clothes so I just had to change clothes. That didn't take me to long, only a few minutes, then I went to go find my gym teacher.

I only had to wait a few minutes before my teacher came and announced what we would be doing today.

"Alright class, we're in for a treat today! We are going to play dodge ball!" He announced. I actually didn't mind to much. When it came to athletics, I was good.

"Seeing that we have a large class this year, you will just split up and play against each other," He told us.

Besides getting a ton of balls thrown at me, nothing else happened in gym class today. People would beg me to be at their team though once they learned that I could throw really well.

Gym class ended soon enough and I hurred to get changed so I could get to math class quickly before the bell rang. This class wasn't so bad either, this year I'm taking Algebra II. The thing I am worried about is that I'm pretty sure Dallas is a little behind Virginia. But I was pleasantly surprised when I found out I an exactly caught up to where I'm supposed to be.

The day continued on like that. People stared at the new girl but never came up to talk to me. I sat with Steph and Edward at lunch and overall it was just a simple day.

The day finally ended and I got home. I went on up to my room to start on my piles of homework. I was surprised to see that I had a letter already sitting on my desk waiting for me.


	5. Your her baby sitter?

Chapter 4

Dear Bella,

By the time you get this I will already be in Iraq. I just want you to have something to think of me until I can send you a letter with my new address. I miss you dearly Jenny, but I promise we'll stay in touch. I'll write to you as soon as possible and then you can tell me all about Chesapeake. Just remember, I love you.

Love,

Dad

I sobbed as I read this. Oh how I missed him! I was worried sick of anything that could go wrong while he's gone. Some of those things I couldn't even let myself think.

Just then I heard the front door slam. Ellie and her baby sitter must be here. I cleaned up myself to maintain my dignity so no one would know I've been crying. I walked down the stairs to have Ellie run up to me and give me a hug.

"Bella! I'm glad to see you! How was school?" She asked.

"It was fine, thanks El, how was your day?"

"It was good, come here I want you to meet Mike."

That's when I saw him. He was in my math class today, and also the star player on our football team. And he baby sat my little sister?

"Hi Mike, I'm Bella, I'm in your math class." I had trouble completing sentences, I was to mesmerized by his deep blue eyes and his adorable blonde hair. Not to mention those muscles.

"Yeah I know who you are. How was your first day?"

"It was okay, I guess like any other first day." I couldn't believe this was happening, I barely know him and I want to make him mine.

"Oh that makes sense, so are you going to take my baby sitting job now?"

"No, I don't baby sit, that's my mom's and my agreement," I told him.

"That's cool, so will I be seeing more of you then?" He asked. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but he actually sounded pretty hopeful.

"Yeah of course you will, but right now I need to go do homework." I responded. With that I hurried off.

I started to do my homework. There was so much of it but luckily it didn't take me to long to do.

After I was done with my homework I just started thinking. I couldn't believe it, I had just started school and I already had a crush. I even had a couple of friends too. I was beginning to think he might even like me too.

I couldn't get ahead of myself. It could end up just my imagination and I would just end up getting my heart broken.

So while I was upstairs and didn't have anything to do I started to unpack. My clothes only filled up about half of the closet. I would need to try and get mom to take me shopping soon.

Eventually I was done with that. My room actually looked decent. No wait, more than decent, I loved it. My walls were a teal color that went perfectly with my white bed spread and teal and white curtains. The walls and ceilings had so many little designs on them that I could just sit and look at. And the room looked so much better once I had my stuff where I wanted it.

Once that was out of the way I started to read. I read for hours, not sure exactly how long though. After finishing about 150 pages I heard the door open.

I walked downstairs to see her, but she was talking to Mike first.

"Oh Mike, I'm sorry I'm late, I'll pay you over time. And I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Sure thing Mrs. Swan, I'll see you tomorrow. See you at school tomorrow Bella." He winked at me and turned around and walked out the door.

"So Mom how come your late?" I pried.

"Well I decided to take your advice, I went to meet Phil for dinner today. I have to say I'm rather glad that I did. He told me there wasn't a day he hasn't missed me and asked me to take him back," She gushed happily.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I'll talk it over with my family, he seemed content with that." She said.

"That's great mom, I'm happy for you. Just please be careful, I don't want you getting your heart broken."

"Enough about me, how was your day? What's up with you and Mike?" Crap, she caw him looking at me.

"My day was good, I made a couple of friends named Stephanie and Edward. And what are you talking about Brad and I? We are just friends" I told her.

"Oh okay….."She said giving me an all-knowing look.

"Since you already had dinner, I'm going to go make dinner for Ellie and I, after that I'm going to bed.

So I went to the kitchen and searched through the freezer. I ended up making chicken fingers and fries. After that I went to bed. I fell asleep this night with a smile on my face. What made that night even better was that was the first night I had a dream about Mike.


	6. My Screenname?

Chapter 5

I woke up bright and early the next day. I couldn't wait to get to school. I hurried into the shower, got out, and blow dried my hair. Now came the hard part, picking out my clothes. I never cared to much before on how I looked, but I never had a crush like this before either.

Eventually, after I've eaten, I was ready to go. I couldn't wait to get to school to see Mike.

Finally, Ellie was ready for school so I went to drop her off. Then I took the road to the high school. I walked into homeroom took my seat the same place I sat yesterday and waited for the bell to ring.

I walked to gym again with Edward, just like I had done yesterday, but this time paying slightly less attention. My mind was drifting elsewhere.

"So, umm, Bella, I was wondering, do you want to go to the movies this weekend?" He worked up the courage to ask.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry Edward but I just want us to stay friends," I said slowly, trying not to hurt his feelings. I really did like him, just not in that way.

"Alright that's fine, but I meant…."

But I didn't want to stay, I hurried into the locker room. I didn't want to risk him pushing the subject.

After our exercises the teacher said we would be running. I didn't mind that to much, I liked to run. I feel like when I run, no one can touch me.

So of course that bell passed by quickly. Finally it was time for the long awaited math class as quickly as I could, but he was quicker. He was already there.

I felt the heat rush to my face as soon as I saw him, so I knew I had to be blushing. He looked up at me and grinned, I knew he could see the blush on my cheeks but I didn't care. He called me over to go sit by him so I went.

"Hey what's up?" He asked.

"Not much, just got finished with gym class, you?"

"I just finished gym too, we must be in a different gym class though," He said.

Of course, just my luck when we finally started talking, the teacher came in. Mike looked frustrated that our talking was cut short. Maybe he does like me after all. So he turned back to his notes and started writing something. A few minutes later I realized he was writing a note to me.

B- Do you have AIM or something? Maybe we can talk on there so we won't be interrupted. -M

M- Yeah, I do its Daddy'sgurl818. -B

B- That's an interesting screen name. Did you live with you did for most of your life? -M

M- Yeah I did, but yeah I'll get on AIM after school later on tonight so I'll talk to you later. -B

With that, he didn't send me another note. So he actually cares enough that he wants to get to know me! I couldn't wait to get home today so I could see him. The only problem is that Ellie would be there hanging on to our every word. So I'll mainly talk to him tonight on AIM.

I had lunch next, so I walked into the cafeteria and went to sit by Steph.

"Hey Steph, what's up?"

"How are you liking Chesapeake? Anyone you like so far? She asked.

"Oh, uh well I kinda like someone. I think I like a guy named Mike, do you know him?

"Duh! Of course I know him! He's only one of the hottest Sophmores!" She exclaimed. But I could've sworn she said "But one is hotter."

"In that case do you think I stand a chance?"

"Well about as good of a chance as anyone, he seems to like you some," Steph said.

"Oh I met him yesterday, he baby sits my little sister Ellie, we met then."

"At least you get a chance to see him outside of school, that means you have a better chance than the rest of them. He's usually to busy with football and school work to worry about anything else." She explained.

"He asked me for my screen name, does that mean anything?" I asked.

"Well that definitely shows interest. You may have some hope after all."

"I guess we'll see when I get home, I'll have to be careful around my little sister, but I'm sure we will message later."

"Make sure you tell me what happens tomorrow! I want details!"

"Al right I'll make sure to tell you everything." I said.

Just then the bell rang for us to get to class. Lunch period was over. Spanish class was next, just great! I have way more important things to worry about than trying to speak another language.

"Okay class, today will be an easy day. You have to watch a movie on Spain and make sure to take motes, you have a paper due on it next week."

I made sure to take some notes, but mostly I had my mind on Brad. I will make sure to get someone else's notes tomorrow for the paper. All in all it was a pretty slow class today.

So, when that class ended, I was so relieved. Just two more classes then I'm home to see Mike.

I went to take my seat by Edward, the same place I sat yesterday.

"Hey Bella, I'm sorry about this morning, but did you get to hear my whole sentence? I asked you to come with me and Steph, as friends."

"Oh my gosh, really? I'm so sorry!"

"Since I know you would turn me down, it makes me wonder who do you like here?" He questioned.

"To be honest, I kinda like Mike."

"Good luck with that, so far he has turned just about every girl in school, but who knows, you might be lucky," He explained.

"Yeah, but I'm not expecting to be able to go out with him. It's just a teenage crush."

"Well, all I want is what's best for you, if you're happy, I'm happy," He whispered just as the teacher came over.

"Bella, Edward, would you like to tell the class what you were talking about?" The teacher yelled..

"No sir, it won't happen again, I promise." I apologized.

"Good, you need to pay attention, we only have 10 minutes of class left, do you think you can last that long?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yes sir, we'll be good."

Not long after that the bell rang, time for the last bell of the day.

My history class is always the most fun. The teacher really makes it stick in your head. Its almost impossible not to pay attention in her class.

In her class today though, all we did was go over our notes for our test next week. So of course that is boring.

This whole day just seemed to drag on, even the most fun class was boring. But eventually I was going in my car on the way home. I couldn't believe how I was acting! I seem like a love struck teen. But I just can't seem to get my mind off of him.

As I turned the corner, I started to get nervous. What if he doesn't like me, and I'll make a fool of myself. The only think I could do to figure that out was to face him. When I went into my house, I was shocked to find my mom.

"What are you doing home mom?" I asked.

"Ellie came home sick, some sort of stomach virus." She told me.

"Oh is she okay?"

"She'll be fine. But you may want to stay away from her, she may be contagious."

"Alright, I'll be up in my room." I said.

With that I went and signed on AIM, hopefully Mike would be on soon. He wasn't yet so I went ahead and started my homework. I wasn't far into my algebra homework before alittle box appeared on my computer telling me he has messaged me.

FootballStar72- Hey Bella what's up?

Daddy'sgurl818- Hey not much, what are you doing?

FootballStar72- Same, how's Ellie?

Daddy'sgurl818- Still sick, I'll let you know at school when she's better.

FootballStar72- Alright, so what are you doing this weekend?

Daddy'sgurl818- Nothing that I know of yet.

FootballStar72- That's cool, you want to go catch a movie?

Daddy'sgurl818- Like a date?

FootballStar72- If you want it to be, if you don't that's cool too.

Daddy'sgurl818- I do! I'll ask my mom and then I'll get back to you tomorrow.

FootballStar72- That's cool, talk to you tomorrow.

Daddy'sgurl818- Alright bye.

I was so excited, I couldn't contain it, wait until I tell Steph tomorrow!


	7. You ask her

**(No new chapters until I get atleast 5 reviews)**

Chapter 6

The next day couldn't come fast enough. By the time I came to school, I didn't have to tell Steph, the whole school knew already! So as soon as I walked into school, Edward came right up to talk to me.

"So I hear your going on a date with Mike?"

"Well, he asked me out, and I said yes, but I still have to ask my mom if I can go," I replied.

"So is that why you told me no? Because you were hoping to be asked out by Mike?"

"Yes and no, honestly I can see you as a friend, but that's all, actually maybe a best friend. But no more than that, but that's okay though because like you said, it would just be as friends if I did go." I said.

"That's completely fine with me. I was afraid thing got awkward with us when you though that I asked you out. But if anything ever happens with you wand Mike I'm here for you."

"Thanks Edward, that really means a lot."

And with that I gave him a hug. It was really sweet in a brother sister sort of way. I'm glad that I had him really, he's my first real friend here and he already means a lot to me.

"Um okay Edward, well I need to get to class. I'll see you later."

The day just dragged on forever. I had so much stuff on my mind I hardly talked to anyone all day.

But even though the day dragged on, before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I went into lunch and took my usual seat beside Steph.

"So…I told you!" She exclaimed. "Now tell me everything!"

"Well we were talking last night on AIM and he asked me what I was doing this weekend and I said nothing that I know of yet. Then he asked me out. But I don't know if I can even go, I still need to ask my mom."

"Do you think she will say yes?" She asked.

"I have no idea. I don't know why she would say no. She trusts him enough to take care of Ellie. So she must trust him a pretty good amount. She will probably let me go."

"That's good, so why do you like him really, I'm really happy for you but honestly…." She started.

"Honestly what?"

"Well I don't really like him that much. Sure he's unbelievable gorgeous but I don't know, I don't really trust him with you. He's hurt plenty of girls in the past. He tends to be a jerk too, so watch out," She explained.

"Its alright really, I think he might actually really like me. Maybe he would be nice and not a jerk towards me, its worth a shot. How else am I ever going to find out if I don't take a risk?"

"That's true. So do you think he might try and kiss you?"

"I don't really know. I wasn't even expecting him to ask me out so I really have no idea what he will do," I told her.

"Well good luck, I knew if I was going out with who I liked then I would be really nervous too."

"Oh? So who do you like?" I pried.

Her face flushed, "I-" And then she was cut off by the bell. She got a look of thankfulness on her face and said bye and rushed away. I was definitely going to ask her about that later on.

With that I was off to my next class, still wondering about Steph. But just as before, the day was still sluggish, I didn't even get to see Mike before or after lunch since he wasn't there. Finally the bell rang letting us know it was time to go home.

I wasn't really looking forward to going home. Mike probably won't be there, since I didn't see him at school. But he could have come in after all and I wouldn't have known it. I guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

But to my surprise, when I got home, there was another car in my driveway. I got butterflies in my stomach and felt a goofy grin on my face. I got myself together and made my smile less prominent.

Much to my pleasure, I walked into the house to see Mike sitting at the kitchen table with Ellie, helping her with homework.

"Hey Mike, what's up?" I asked.

"Not much, just got home with Ellie."

"Where were you today, I missed you in math class," I said.

"I had a dentist appointment sorry. And I missed you too," He said sweetly.

"Oh its okay, no big deal. So…about our date, what are we gong to do?"

Well, I was thinking we could go to the movies, and them if its not to late we could go out to get some ice cream."

"That sounds like fun. Would you be picking me up or do you want me to meet you there?" I asked.

"I would much rather pick you up, that means more time I can spend with you."

"Alright, so what time would you pick me up at then?"

"I guess that means your mom said yes?" He guessed.

"Well… not exactly…"

"What do you mean?"

"I was kind of hoping you would ask her, I would be much more likely to get a yes if you asked."

"Oh God! Are you insane? I do not do good around parents." He explained.

"You seem just fine around her while baby sitting Ellie," I pointed out.

"That's because that is about Ellie. This is totally different, I really like you and I don't want to screw that up by making a fool of myself."

"Don't worry Mike, you won't make a fool of yourself, and I'm sure she'd say yes. She likes you a lot."

"So do I have to?" He begged.

"Yes Mike, if you want to go out with me, then yes you do need to."

"Okay then. When will she be home?"

"Any minute now." I said looking at the clock.

Right as I finished that, she walked through the doors.

"Hey you guys, how was school?"

"It was good, Mike has something to ask you though."

"Well lets hear it then."

"Alright hear it goes, I was wondering if I could take Bella out this weekend. I know that she's new here and all, but I really do want to take her out." He said somewhat quickly.

"See that wasn't so bad was it Mike?" But I knew for him it was, I could see him slightly shaking and his eyes widened in fear. Not enough for anyone to notice unless they were looking right at his eyes like I happened to be doing.

"Why of course you can take her out!" She exclaimed.

"Awesome!" He practically yelled.

"That is, if you have her back by midnight and you act like a complete gentleman."

"You have my work. I don't want to do anything that could hurt her."

"That's all I want to hear," She said smiling, "You can go ahead and go home now, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Bella."

"Bye Mike," I said sadly.

With that he gave me a hug bye. I couldn't wait to see him again tomorrow.

"Alright mom, I'm going to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait Bella, I need to talk to you first."

"Sure mom, what's up?" I asked curiously.

"Well I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff. I know you and Mike are both teenagers and you do stuff you end up regretting…"

"Wait mom stop there, I know where this is going and you can stop. Dad and I already had this talk when I was like 12. Its alright, don't worry I won't do anything stupid." I explained.

"If your sure then alright, just remember you can talk to me about anything."

"Thanks mom, I'm going to bed now, I'll see you in the morning," I said.

So I went up to bed to lay down. I was asleep within minutes, and I couldn't wait for this weekend to come.


	8. The Date

Chapter 7

The rest of the week passed by in a blur. Finally Saturday night came. I was rushing around trying on practically every outfit that I had trying to find the perfect outfit. Everything was going perfect until I noticed the time. It was a quarter till six! He's supposed to be here at six! So I quickly got dressed, touched up my makeup, and smoothed out my hair. I took one more look and decided I looked good. I went to the front room and watched football until he got here.

The time went by extremely slow. But finally the time came that I heard the doorbell ring.

Immediately, my stomach dropped. I felt the butterflies in my stomach, and I was glad I had a light breakfast.

I answered the door. As soon as I opened it, I looked up at him and felt like I was seeing him for the first time all over again. I was staring deeply into his eyes feeling as though I could get lost for ages, I never wanted this moment to end, but it had to seeing as the phone rang.

I quickly grabbed the phone, when I saw who it was I mentally groaned to myself, of course, its Steph.

"He Steph," I said in a very annoyed tone. "I can't talk right now…..Bye."

He let out a small chuckle and I felt the heat rise up to my face, Steph always knows the right times to call, I thought sarcastically.

"So…uhh…you ready to go?" He asked.

"Okay," I said sheepishly as I got in the car. It had that new car smell that I loved.

"Is this car new?"

"Yeah my dad just got it for me for making quarter back." He told me.

"Oh that's cool," I said trying to sound interested, but I'm not to sure I succeeded. Luckily he didn't notice, he kept staring at the road.

"You look beautiful tonight by the way, did I tell you that?"

"No you didn't, and thank you," I said quietly.

It was silent to rest of the ride. Both of us lost in our own thoughts. Lucky for me, it wasn't to much longer before we got to the movies.

We walked in to get our tickets, talking about the movie that we are going to go see.

After we get out tickets we went to buy snacks.

"What would you like?" He asked.

"Anything works, how about just a popcorn and drinks?"

"Whatever you like," He said sweetly.

So he ordered a large popcorn with butter and two medium drinks.

We got in the movie theater just as the previews were coming on. Not long after we sat down the lights darkened for the movie to start.

When I realized that I was sitting next to the hottest guy in school in the dark I could feel my palms starting to sweat. I excused my self to the bathroom.

"Okay you can do this," I told myself in the mirror. So I put on some more lip gloss, brushed my hair one more time, and sprayed a little of my favorite perfume. After looking in the mirror one more time, I decided I was suitable and went back into the movie theater.

Right after I sat down the movie started. I finally calmed down and was really enjoying the movie. I also caught Mike looking at me a couple of times.

As a loud part came, I jumped. I had no problem jumping, but by accident I grabbed his hand.

"Sorry," I said pulling away.

"No its okay," He replied, while pulling me closer to him. He put his arm around me, and it felt right, so I put my head on his shoulder.

The rest of the movie was not awkward at all. I sat there, with my head on his shoulder, just about as content as I could get.

So when the credits were over, and the room lightened back up, we got up to leave. He took my hand and we walked back out to the car,

When he started the car, I looked at the time. It was almost eleven. I mentally groaned, I was really looking forward to hanging out with him longer. Oh well, there will be plenty of time got that later hopefully.

"So I guess we don't have time to go out for ice cream?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not tonight, but I really want to see you again."

"Of course!" I said a little to excitedly.

He chuckled then said, "So when can I see you again?"

"Um I'm not to sure, I'd have to get back to you on that one."

We were nearing my house, I hated how close I was to the movie theater.

He pulled into my driveway and said, "Thanks again for coming with me."

"No thank you," I replied, "I had an awesome time."

He had a look on his face like he wanted to do something, but he thought better of it. He pulled me in for a hug and told me good night.

After I shut the door, I went to the window. I sat there, watching until his car was completely out of sight.

"So how was your date?" My mom asked.

"Unbelievable, he is suck a gentleman. He seems so great."

"I'm glad you had such a good time," She said.

"Alright well I'm going to call Steph, then going to bed," I told her.

"Okay goodnight sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning."

I went to my room and shut the door. I pulled out my phone to call her. She answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey, it's Bella, what's up?"

"Not much, how'd your date go?"

"Awesome," I told her.

"That's cool, you should come over and spend the night and tell me all about it. You live close enough, you can walk over."

"Um.. I'm not sure, let me go ask my mom," I replied.

"Okay."

I went to go find my mom to ask. She wnded up being in the living room watching a movie.

"Hey mom?" I asked.

"Yes honey?"

"Would it be okay if I went to spend the night at Steph's?"

"I'm not sure, its kind of late," She said.

"She just lives right up the road. It won't even take me five minutes to walk there."

"Alright. Be good and call me tomorrow when you leave to come home."

"Thanks mom! I'll make sure to call you! Love you!"

I went back to my room and picked back up the phone.

"My mom said yes."

"Awesome! So when are you coming over?" She said.

"Uh I need to get stuff together, then walk over there, so probably fifteen minutes or so."

"Sweet. So I guess I'll see you when you get here." She said.

"Okay bye."

"Bye"

We hung up then and I looked around my room for a bag. After I found one I went to go pack up my stuff, then I was ready to go.

"Bye mom, I'm leaving! See you tomorrow!"

I rushed out the door and closed it behind me. It only took about five minutes or so to walk down the three houses to get to her house.

When I walked up to the front door to ring the doorbell, she opened the door before I even had a chance to.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I had to get the door before you rang it. My parents are sleeping." She told me.

"Oh okay. So where do I put my stuff?"

"In my room. Right this way."

She brought me into a room right by where we were. It was a pink room with burgundy carpet. It had white furniture like her mom painted it when Steph was still little. But the curtains were black along with the bedspread and there were posters everywhere.

"Wow your room is pretty cool," I said hesitantly.

"Ehh its okay. I used to be really girly so my parents gave me a pink room. But when I got older I dressed darker so I do all I can to punk up this room."

"Oh that makes sense, where do you want me to put my stuff?" I asked.

"Just throw it anywhere. What do you want to do?" She asked.

"I don't care, I'm up for anything."

"Hey my mom just bought me this new karaoke machine, do you want to try it?"

"Sure."

So she went to go get it and bring it in. It took us about ten minutes to figure out how to get it set up but finally we did it.

"Your going first," I told her.

"Alright."

She pulled out the microphone and pushed start. She started singing, and she was amazing. Her voice was the best I've heard for someone our age, better than many adults. When she was done I applauded her.

"Wow your amazing!"

"Thanks," She said bashfully, "Now its your turn."

"I don't know your much better."

"Please?"

"Oh alright, but don't laugh!" I told her.

"I promise."

So I took my turn at the mike. After I was done I turned to look at her, and to my surprise she wasn't trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Your not that bad at all," She complimented.

"No where near as good as you though."

"I cheated, I had lessons," She explained.

So we continued on like that for about and hour or so. At some point she even went and got a video camera so now we have a video of us making fools of ourselves by laughing while we're singing and dancing.

Eventually we were done with that though and we were getting tired. So we climbed onto her bed and just lay there talking while we were getting tired.

"So…you never did tell me, who was it you were getting ready to tell me who you like. Remember? You were telling me when the bell rang."

"Yeah I remember, okay do you know who Johnathon is?"

"No?"

" He's like a guy version of me, he has long, black, straight hair and is pale like me. He's about 5'8 and wears eyeliner, pretty much described as gothic."

"Oh yeah, I know who your talking about. You like him?"

"Yeah but you can not tell anyone!"

"I won't, you can trust me, does he like you? Are you planning on doing anything about it?" I pried.

"I doubt he likes me, and no way will I ever tell him. I don't have the guts."

"Wait, isn't he in a band? That's looking for a vocalist?"

"Yeah, but I'm not that great at screaming and stuff. They are like a metal band."

"So? Lots of metal bands have girl singers who don't scream. I think you should try it!" I encouraged.

"Maybe, if I do, will you be there to encourage me and help me through it?"

"Of course!"

"Then okay, I guess I could try it," She said hesitantly, "Enough about me, how was your date?"

"It was so awesome, he's so sweet to me. He said I looked beautiful and he put his arm around me during the movie at a scary part. We were supposed to go out for ice cream but we didn't have enough time."

"Aw that sounds sweet, so are you guys going to go on another date?"

"He said he wants to see me again so hopefully, yes."

"Awesome, maybe if me and Jon hook up then we can double."

"That would be so much fun! Alright, well I'm getting really tired, so I'm going to go to bed. Good night Steph."

"Night Bella, see you tomorrow."

And with that it only took me a few minutes until I drifted off to sleep.


	9. Church AND Shopping

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning to my phone going off. I looked at the time and it was almost eight. So that must mean its my mom calling me. She's the only one who would call me this early.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey sweetie, its your Dad, how are you?"

"Oh my gosh Dad! I miss you so much! How are you?"

"I'm ok honey, I miss you too. How's Virginia?" He questioned.

"It's pretty good. Guess what? I have a sister! Her name is Ellie. She looks so much like me! She has my hair, and my face from when I was little! It's crazy!"

"Aww that's great sweetheart. So I'm guessing your mom gave you your present right?"

"Yeah, thanks Dad for telling her what I want. So how's the war going?"

"Not so great, I'm not sure how long I'll be gone for." He said sadly.

"What do you mean it's not going well? What's happening?"

"Well honey, I'm not going to lie to you. It seems to be going downhill, we're losing a lot of troops."

"What? So what does that mean for you then Daddy?"

"I'm not sure, but I can tell you I'll probably be here for awhile. You should be getting a letter soon, today or tomorrow, and the return address on there is where you can write me back. I've got to go here now sweetie, I'm out of time, but I love you and I'll try to call you back as soon as I can."

"Alright, I love you too Daddy, I'll write you back as soon as I get the letter. I love you, bye."

"Who was that?" Steph asked.

"My Dad, he's over seas right now."

"Oh I'm sorry, so what did he say?"

"Well, he says the war is going really bad, and that there are a lot of people dieing. I'm so scared for him Stephanie." I said, worry covering my tone.

"I'm sure it will be fine. I'm here if you ever need to talk about it."

"I know you are, thanks."

"Its really no problem. That's what friends are for. So what time do you have to be home?" She asked.

"I don't know. She never gave me a time. But I do have to call her and tell her what my plans for the day are."

"Alright, hey do you want to go to church with me?"

"Um I'm not to sure. I never really go, and I don't have any clothes for it. I just brought jeans and a shirt." I said.

"That's okay, our church isn't really formal. They won't really care. I always go in jeans, sometimes they even have holes in them too."

"Okay, if your sure they won't say anything. What time do you leave?"

"We need to get there at about ten, we leave at about 9:40. So that means we have almost two hours, that should be enough time."

So I worked on getting my clothes together and packing up my stuff. After my stuff was all packed up, I went to go get dressed. Luckily, the clothes I brought weren't to bad, they were actually some of my better jeans and a pretty top.

"Hey Steph? Can I use your makeup?"

"Sure, most of it is on top of my dresser, whatever isn't there is in my purse, help yourself to any of it."

"Thanks." I told her.

By the time I finished all my make up, she was just starting her eyeliner. After I got done brushing my hair, she was working on her eye shadow still.

"Man Steph, you really do take a long time with your makeup. How much more do you have to do?"

"Uh I have my mascara then lipstick, then I'll be done." I laughed at that.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"It takes me about 15 minutes to do my makeup, but you've been doing yours for almost 40 minutes. No wonder you have to get up so early!"

"Oh, yeah I guess I do take a long time. What can I say? I'm a perfectionist!"

"I'll say, so when are we leaving?" I asked.

"In about 20 minutes. If your done getting ready, we have food, my mom usually makes muffins or something before church, so if you want you can go get one for breakfast." She told me.

"Ok, thanks."

"No problem."

So I left her room to go find her kitchen. It wasn't to hard, I just went to where I heard the little pug barking. In there, there was her mom and her dad, when they heard me come they turned around.

"Um hi." I said. They looked confused. "Steph invited me to spend the night last night and to come to church with you guys this morning."

"Oh so your Steph's new friend! Hi dear, I'm Mrs. Craig, how did you sleep?"

"Fine thanks, it's nice of you guys to take me today."

"Its no problem at all. We love to bring Steph's friends. Would you like some breakfast?" She asked sweetly.

"That would be great thanks."

"Ok well, we're going to be leaving shortly. Will you be ready in about 15 minutes?" She asked.

"Yeah, Steph is finishing up her makeup so she should be done soon too."

"Thanks, I'll go tell her its almost time to leave."

Then it was quiet again. I realized I should probably call my mom and tell her where we were going. So I picked up my cell phone and dialed her number. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Mom, its me, I'm just letting you know that I'm going to go to church with Stephanie and her family, so I probably won't be home until later, we are probably going to hang out a little after church." I explained.

"Okay honey, thanks for letting me know. I didn't know you went to church."

"I don't really. Dad and I never really got into it. But she asked if I wanted to, so I said sure."

"Oh, well have fun then. Make sure to call or text me later to check in."

"Alright mom, I'll talk to you later, I love you."

"I love you too sweetie, bye."

"Bye mom."

So I sat there finishing my food, and by the time I was done with that, 15 minutes was almost up, so finally it was time to go.

"You ready Bella?" Steph asked.

"Yep, so what's your church like?"

"Well its pretty big, and we have Sunday school, then the service, but we aren't doing Sunday school today, so we are just going to go to the service. Our pastor is really good, you'll like him I'm sure, we do singing for a little while then he talk for a bit then we pray and sing some more, then its time to leave." She explained.

"Oh cool, so how long is it?"

"About a hour and a half or so. Our pastor really likes to talk."

"Ha ha ok, that's not to long."

After we were done talking, we were almost there. She was right, the church was really big. It had to be about three stories!

"Here it is," Stephanie said.

"Wow. I'm glad you're here, or else I would get so lost."

"Its not as big as it looks. Are you ready?" She asked.

"Sure."

And with that, we went inside. She was right, I mean the church is big, but not nearly as bad as it looked from the outside.

So we went to go sit down. We weren't there for long before the music started. Then the choir started to come down, and there sure were a lot of them! Then they started to sing, the music touched you so well, the guy directing the singing had us stand up and sing with them. I didn't know the song, but they had the words on a big screen so I could figure it out well enough.

It kept on like that for about 20 minutes or so, before we finally sat down and the pastor came out. He talked for a while, not to long though, for about 30 to 45 minutes or so. I have to admit, it was really touching.

Eventually though, he was done and asked people to come down and pray.

"Do you want to go Bella, and pray for your Dad? I'll go with you."

"Sure, only if you come though."

So we went down, and sat down to pray. I've never been through anything like this, it was really cool. And it felt really good to know there was someone with you that cares a lot.

After about five minutes or so, we went back to our seats.

"Thanks Steph, that really meant a lot."

"Of course Bella, I'm always here for you."

She gave me a hug and we turned back to the front while the choir finished up their singing. But soon after that, it was over.

"Are you ready to go?" Steph asked.

"Sure. So what do you want to do now?"

"I'm not sure, its only 12:30, so um do you want to go to the mall?"

"Totally, do you think your parents will run us back to your house then my house so I can get my money?"

"Probably, let me go ask."

So I sat down and waited while she went to go talk to her parents. After just a couple of minutes, she came back looking happy.

"They said sure so are you ready?"

"Yeah, let me call my mom and ask."

So I called my mom and after I got an okay I told Steph.

"Alright, looks like we can go," I told her.

We went to the car, and her parents drove us home. We pretty much rode in silence for awhile, then I broke the silence.

"So where do you shop at?"

"I usually shop at Hot Topic, or Spencer's, or places like that, or anywhere that has the kind of clothes that I like. What about you?" She asked.

"Pretty much American Eagle, or Hollister, Aeropostal, and places like that."

"Ok so looks like we are total opposites with that, but that's ok, that will just mean we have more time to shop, and more stores to shop at."

So after that, we were at her house, and she ran in and found her money then came back out, then her parents drove up the road to my house, and I ran in and grabbed my money, then we were off to the mall.

We ended up staying at the mall for hours, going from store to store buying so much stuff. After being at the mall for about four hours, we finally ran out of places to shop at.

"What do you want to do now?" Steph asked.

I looked at my watch, it read 5:30. "I think that I should be getting home soon if your done shopping too, my mom probably wants me home for dinner soon."

"Alright let me call my parents."

"No its ok, I'll call my mom this time, your parents drove us here."

"Ok if your sure," She said.

So I called my mom, and she said that she would be there in about 20 minutes so we decided to go wait out front.

We stepped outside when she gasped.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Johnathon is here! Do I look ok?"

"Yeah you look fine! Go talk to him!"

"No way! I'll make a fool of myself," She told me.

"Talk to him about his band, bring up that you know he needs a vocalist and say you sing."

"Uh ok, but only if you come with me!" She said.

"Alright, lets go."

So we walked over to him, he took his headphones out and looked up at us.

"Hey, your that new girl Bella right? And your Stephanie right?"

"Yeah, so your in that band right? That's looking for a vocalist?"

"Yep, why?" He pried.

"Well, I'm a singer, I can do screaming and stuff but I can sing pretty well, and I'd really like to be in your band maybe."

"Ok, when do you want tryouts?"

"I can whenever you want, just let me know when."

"That'd be great, can I have your number so I can get a hold of you when the band wants you to try out?"

"Sure, let me see your phone." She told him.

So she programmed her number in his phone. After she was done with that, I could see the blush rising on her cheeks.

"Alright, well I should be going, I'll see you around Johnathon."

"Ok, bye."

My mom pulled up, and we got into the car to go home.

"So how was your day girls?" My mom asked.

"Good, thanks for picking us up mom."

"Of course, where do you live at Steph?"

"Just right down the road from you guys, pass your house then keep going straight."

"Ok, well then we're almost there then."

We kept going for just a little while, and we stopped in front of Steph's house.

"Bye Steph! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye Bella, thanks for the ride."

After we were back at our house, I went upstairs to finish my homework, and after that was done, I went to bed. I have to wake up early tomorrow for school.


	10. Gone?

**(A/N okay you guys, as i said before i just adapted the names, so i noticed i put the names in wrong a couple of times the last few chapters. just so you know in case it happens again, Jenny-Bella, Brad-Mike, and Cameron (Cam)- Edward**

Chapter 9

I woke up hearing a banging at the front door. I glanced at the clock, it was only 2:00 and the morning! "_Great"_ I thought to myself "_Who could be out there?"_ So I went to the door to see who it was.

As I slowly reached the door, the knocking became increasingly faster.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I yelled.

"Hello?" I asked to the two guys standing in front of my door, both wearing uniforms.

"Bella Swan?" One of the men asked.

"Yes, that's me. Who are you?" I asked with the confusion evident in my voice.

"We are from the army. We knew your father," They started.

"Knew? That's past tense…" I said thinking I might start to get what they are saying.

"That's right, Bella, I'm so sorry, but he's gone," They said sympathetically.

"No! This can't be happening! I just talked to him yesterday!"

"Jenny-" He started, but hearing him call me my nickname, the nickname my dad always called me, brought on a whole new round of tears.

"Jenny," They started again, "Here's his dog tags, I'm so sorry." He put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay, he loved you so much. He wouldn't want you to cry over him. Just remember everything you guys did together."

"I know, but he was more than just a father to me! He's my best friend. I've lived with him my whole life. I tell him everything. I can't imagine my life without him."

"It will be okay Bella, it doesn't seem like it right now, but eventually, it will."

"Thank you, may I have his dog tags?" I asked.

"Sure, but we need to be going. Just remember, he has always loved you."

They turned to leave and I let the pain of losing him take over me. I leaned on the doorway and started to fall to my knees crying. Just before I hit the ground, I heard an alarm.

I woke up with a start, realizing I didn't have his dog tags, it was all just a dream.

So I went to the bathroom, to splash some cold water on my face. As I looked up and in the mirror I realized how red my eyes were. I looked like I had been crying all night. I decided that it might be a good idea to take a nice long hot shower. That would probably make me look better, and feel better too.

After I got done with a hot shower, I looked in the mirror, I still looked a mess, but nothing that a little make up can't fix. Then I got started blow drying my long brown hair. When it was dry I just pulled it back into a pony tail and got started on my make up.

When I was done, and I made myself look just about as good as it was going to get, I looked at the time. It was almost time to take Ellie to school.

"Ellie are you almost ready?" I called.

"Yeah, hold on," Ellie said.

Ellie emerged from her room wearing clothes that looked strangely like the ones I was wearing.

"Ellie why are you dressed like me?" I asked her.

"I wanted to look like you, you are my big sister."

"Remember we don't know that part yet." I reminded her.

"Yeah well even if you aren't, I'm still going to think of you as one." She told me. I couldn't help but to smile at that. We may not be blood related, but she really does care about me.

"Alright El, that's really sweet of you. Are you ready to go now?"

"Yeah, let's go. So… mom told me you and Mike went on a date…" Oh lord, here it went, she was going to pry for every detail of my life.

"Yep, what about it?"

"Just wondering. So is he still going to baby sit me?" She asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't he?"

"Because I was afraid that he might start spending all his time with you, and won't want to play with me anymore," She told me, hurt in her voice.

"Oh honey, don't worry about that, even if me and Mike start dating, we will always still play with you."

"You promise?" She asked hopefully.

"I promise. Mike is just a guy, you and I live together. Even when Mike isn't there, we will still have sister time. Tell you what, how about after I get home from school today, I will give you a make over. I'll do your hair and everything!"

"That sounds so fun! Thanks Bella!" She said excitedly.

It felt so good to make my little sister that happy.

So I pulled up to the school to drop her off then I was on my way to the high school. I went to Steph's locker to see how she was doing.

"Hey Steph, what's up?"

"Nothing much, you look awful Bella. Couldn't sleep last night?"

"No not really. I had an awful dream about my dad. I dreamt that he had dies and these soldiers had to come to tell me."

"Oh don't worry Bella. He's fine, he's still alive. There's nothing to worry about," She told me.

"I know, I just can't help but to be worried you know? I'm scared something might happen and I would never get to see him again."

"It will be okay Bella. Now listen, you need to stop freaking out because Brad is right over there. He's coming this way, don't worry you look fine, now go talk to him," She told me.

"Alright, thanks Steph." And with that I pulled her in for a hug.

I turned around and was surprised to see that Mike was standing right by me.

"Hey Mike, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just talking to a pretty girl. So I had a lot of fun on our date Saturday night."

"Me too Mike. Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon," I hinted.

"Yeah about that, what are you doing Friday night?"

"Hopefully having a date with the star football player."

"Oh so your not able to go out on Friday?" He said joking around.

"I thought you were the star football player. So that means I think we have a date Friday," I said smiling.

"Well alright then, I'll see you in math class later."

"Alright. Bye" He gave me a hug and then we went in our opposite directions for out classes.

I went to go dress out, and went to go sit down in our squads. Edward got up to talk to me.

"So you and Mike huh?"

"Yeah we went out on Saturday. I had so much fun Edward! He's so great," I gushed.

"That's awesome Bella. So where did you go?"

"We went to the movies. And guess what? He made a move, like we didn't actually kiss, but he put his arm around me and stuff. It was so awesome. And after the movie we were going to go out for ice cream but then we realized that it was almost my curfew, so he had to bring me home. We have another date this Friday."

"Wow, sounds like you had fun," He said, with the hurt evident in his voice.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Umm, nothing, don't worry about it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I better go sit down now, the teacher's coming and if I'm not sitting, I'll get in trouble."

"Okay, bye Edward."

After a long excrutiating hour of gym, finally the teacher told us we could go dress out.

I hurried to change, touched up my make up and sprayed some perfume. I wanted to look at least somewhat decent after gym class.

So I quickly went out of the locker room and rushed to the math class, and took my seat beside Brad.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," He said.

"So how was gym?" I asked.

"No gym today. I had to go to health."

"Ah that's a real bundle of joy," I said sarcastically.

"Ha ha yep. Did you do your math homework?"

"Yeah, I did most of it waiting for you to pick me up on Saturday. What about you?" I asked.

" I did it in health. So I just finished it."

"Wow nice."

But after that I had to shut up. The teacher came in and immediately started teaching. All bell I kept sneaking glances at Mike, and could see him looking at me too out of the corner of his eye.

After that bell was over, I went to go find Stephanie to sit with her at lunch.

"Hey Steph, what's up?"

"Nothing, you feeling better than this morning?"

"Yeah a lot. Thanks for helping me this morning. That really meant a lot."

"Its no problem at all Bella. You're my friend and I'm always here to help you," She said with a smile on her face.

"So, Jonathon is over there, why don't you go talk to him about the band?"

"Um no."

"Why not?" I exclaimed.

"It was bad enough talking to him the first time, in fact that was killer. It had me so nervous. No way could I do that again."

"That's fine, you don't have to."

"Your not going to try and make me?" She said surprised.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because he's coming over here."

"WHAT? Do I look okay?"

"Yes Steph, you look fine, don't worry."

Right about that time, Jonathon got here.

"So Stephanie, are you still wanting to be in the band?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, do you think that you could come by my place on Saturday? I will give you directions. There, the band can meet you and you can show us your singing."

"Sure, can I bring Bella with me?" She asked.

"Yeah of course. I'll call you later."

"Okay bye."

The last two bells just dragged on. But eventually, it was over.

When the last bell rang, I got in my car to go home. There, I was greeted by Ellie begging me to go ahead and do her make up and hair.

"Ellie I have a lot of homework and I'm tired. Go ask Mike to play with you, I'm sure he will."

"Okay, bye then Bella."

With that I went ahead and went upstairs. I did my homework, and after I was done with that, I went ahead and started on some reading. While I was reading I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember is that I woke up the next morning to my alarm clock.


	11. Cancellation

Chapter 10

Not much happened for the next few days. I talked to Mike, but that stayed causal, and Steph didn't really get to talk to Jonathon. But then Thursday came and something totally unexpected happened.

I walked into school to see Edward hugging a new girl. Her name was Tanya.

"So who's this Edward?" I asked.

"Um, Bella, this is Tanya, Tanya this is Bella."

"Hi nice to meet you," I said kindly.

"Bella, Tanya is my new…girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Why didn't you tell me you liked her?"

"Well, I don't know really. I never thought she would say yes to me, to be honest," He explained.

"Okay then, I guess. Well I'll see you in gym."

I don't know why this made me so mad, for him to have a new girlfriend. Its not like I liked him right? He's like a brother to me. A brother that I was very protective of.

He and I didn't really talk in first bell, we didn't have time, and nothing eventful happened until about lunch time.

"Hey Steph!"

"Hey Bella, so have you seen Edward yet?" She asked.

"Yeah, did you know he liked Tanya?" I asked her.

"No actually, he never said anything to me about it. The last I heard, he still liked…well never mind."

"Who? Who did he like?" I pried.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Forget I said anything about it."

"Alright I guess. But this is so weird!"

"Why?" She questioned.

"Well, I've thought of him as a friend, maybe even a brother. And for some reason I feel so protective of him. And Tanya is one of the head cheerleaders. That's bound to be trouble, I'm just afraid for him to get hurt. I don't know why I'm protective though," I explained.

"That's perfectly normal Bella, you care about him, he's one of your friends. You just want him to be happy," She confirmed.

"Yeah that's how I see it. I'm just afraid she will hurt him."

"Did you ever think that maybe that's how he sees you being with Mike? He is the star football player after all, maybe he's scared for you too."

"But why didn't he just say something then?" I asked confused.

"Well, why didn't you tell him that you were afraid of him getting hurt? You didn't want to make him mad right? Well that's how he sees it for you too."

The bell rang after that, and we quickly made our way to our next classes. Nothing else happened for the rest of the day until I made it home. When I got home, Mike's car was already there. So I went to go walk in.

"Hey Bella, haven't really talked to you today. You seemed sort of distracted all day. What's up?"

"Sorry Mike, Cam got a new girlfriend without telling me he was going to. That just surprised me."

"Does that bother you?" He asked me curiously.

"Yes and no, it bothers me that he didn't tell me. It also bother's me about who she is, I really don't like her, but at the same time, I just want him to be happy," I explained to him.

"Why don't you like her?"

"Well first I just get a bad feeling about her, and second, I don't want to stereotype her, but she's the head cheerleader, I just am scared for him. I don't want him to be hurt, he means a lot to me."

"Oh, well that makes a lot of sense. Do you really think she will hurt him?"

"I have no idea. I don't really know her, so I can't say that. I just want him to be careful."

Right about that time, my mom walked through the door. Mike gave me a smile and went to go get his money and talk to my mom. He walked back over to me, pulled me in for a tight hug, and bent down and give Bella a little hug too and had to leave.

"So Ellie, I think I still owe you that makeover don't I?"

"Yeah!" She yelled.

"Ha ha alright, go upstairs and take a shower. I will be up in a few minutes to blow dry your hair," I told her.

"Okay! Thanks Bella."

She ran up the stairs to go jump in the shower and I went to go sit down beside my mom.

"So Bella, I think I need to talk to you."

"Yeah? About what?" I asked.

"Well, Phil and I are starting to date. I've been going out to dinner with him, and tomorrow he's coming over to pick me up for dinner. So do you think you can call Mike and ask him to baby sit Ellie for me tomorrow?"

"He and I have a date tomorrow mom."

"You never asked me about this Bella. I'm sorry Bella but you can't tomorrow. Please Bella? For me?"

"Fine mom," I said very annoyed, "But just so you know, I'm going to stay here so that after Ellie's bed time, he and I are going to be able to hang out."

"That's fine sweetie, just be good. And remember your only sixteen."

"Mom! Yes mom I'm only sixteen, you don't need to get worried, I'm a good kid," I told her.

"Yeah that's what they all say. Just promise you'll be good okay?"

"Okay mom, I promise. Have fun on your date okay?"

"Alright. Thanks so much honey. Now your sister is waiting for you, so go hand out with her. Have fun."

With that I went upstairs to see Ellie has already gotten changed in her pajamas and is hanging out in the chair in the bathroom waiting for me to do her hair.

"So what do you want me to do to your hair El?"

"Will you make it straight please?"

"Sure. Then we can pick out an outfit for you to wear tomorrow. Come get me in the morning and I'll fix the little bits of your hair that has started to get wavy again."

"Okay thanks Bella."

So I got started on her hair. She had some really thick hair. But after about 45 minutes, her hair was dry and straight. She turned around and looked in the mirror.

"Wow Bella, I love it! Thank you so much!"

"Ha ha no problem Ellie. Now remember to come get me in the morning to fix it. So guess what we are doing tomorrow?"

"What?" Ellie asked excitedly.

"Mike is coming over after school, but this time, he's going to stay until past your bed time. Mom is going out on a date."

"Who's she going with?"

"Phil. The guy she was talking about the first day I moved here."

"The one who might be my daddy?" She asked.

"Yeah him."

"I don't want her to go out with him," She said suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"Because! She hurt me mommy. I don't like him."

"But Ellie, he made a mistake, and he knows that. He wants to come into your life. He cares about mom, lets give him a second chance."

"I don't want to," She said stubbornly.

"Please El, for me?" I asked.

"No."

"Well, you don't have to like him, but at least pretend to be nice," I begged her.

"I can do that. Just because it makes you and mommy happy."

"Thank you Ellie. Now its past your bed time, so you need to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"Good night Bella."

After she left, I went to go to my room. I looked at my alarm and it read 9:30. It was a reasonable enough time for me to go to sleep now. So I got changed and went to lay down. Within minutes I was fast asleep.

The next morning came, and I groaned and hit the snooze button. My alarm went off again and I woke up this time. Ellie would be wanting me to do her hair soon.

So I got up and went and brushed my hair and teeth. I didn't look nearly as bad as yesterday since I got a full night sleep. So I only had to put on a little bit of makeup. When I was done with that I went to go find Ellie. She was in her bathroom, brushing her hair. It still had most of its straightness. But I went to go touch it up.

"Okay Ellie, go get dressed, we need to leave in ten minutes."

"Okay. Thanks again for doing my hair Bella," She said.

"No problem."

I went to the kitchen to go find some breakfast. I didn't really have enough time to eat so just grabbed a granola bar. As I was finished that Ellie came down the stairs. She grabbed a granola bar too and we were off to school.

"Alright Ellie, I'll see you after school, have a good day," I told her.

"You too."

So I was off to school. I turned on the radio to stop the silence. After a few minutes I went to go park in the school's parking lot.

The first bell was just the usual. Doing some running, and exercises. Then came second bell came, and I had to cancel my date with Mike.

"Hey Mike."

"Hey, you excited about tonight."

"About that, I'm sorry Mike but my mom won't let me, and she told me to ask you if you can baby sit Ellie tonight. She's going out to dinner. So can you stay at me house tonight until about eleven or so?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's fine Bella. We can have a nice evening in together."

"Alright that sounds fun. Ellie's bed time in 8 so we will still have about three hours."

"Okay, thanks Mike. I'll see you tonight."

So the rest of the just slowly passed. But eventually it was time to go. So I got in my car to ride home. I rushed home, surprised to see that I had beaten Ellie and Mike home this time.

Since I realized I still had some time before they got home I quickly rushed upstairs. I touched up my make up, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, and put on some perfume. Eventually, I decided that I looked good enough. And it was pretty much perfect timing, because after that, they walked through the door.

"Bella?" Ellie called.

"Coming!" I called back.

I walked down the stairs to see Mike and Ellie putting there stuff down.

"Hey Ellie, how was your day?"

"Good, what about yours?"

"Pretty good, thanks, so what do you want to do not Ellie?"

"I don't care, what about you Mike?" She asked.

"Well you know what we usually do when we get home. We should go ahead and get your homework done so you have the rest of the day to play."

"Yeah but I have so much today. I have spelling words, some adding problems, and I have to write two whole paragraphs on the story we read today."

"Wow, why did they give you so much today?"

"I don't know, why don't you and Bella go get yours too, and you do it with me?"

"Ha ha okay El.," He said.

So we all went to go get out homework. I finished mine first, at about 6:30, so I went to go get a book. Ellie finished hers about 7:30 and Mike was still finishing his.

"Mike, I'm going to go get Ellie ready for bed while your finishing that up okay?"

"Alright Bella, thanks."

I brought Ellie upstairs and got her to go take a shower.

She took about 20 minutes with that, washing her hair, then conditioning it, and washing herself. But eventually she was done with that. I went to go get her pajamas, and she went and got changed.

After she was done changing I tucked her into bed, and she asked me to go get her a glass of water.

But eventually, after she had gotten her water, she was ready to go to sleep. But she was scared to go to sleep when her mom wasn't there.

"Hey Bella?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you will stay with me until I fall asleep?"

"Sure."

So she laid down on her stomach and closed her eyes. I sat there, rubbing her back until her breathing got steady and deep, and I knew she was asleep.

I went downstairs to see Mike putting away his books.

"She asleep now?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"So what do you want to want to do now?"

"I'm not sure. Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked.

"That sounds like fun. What movie?"

"I don't care, you pick, our movies are over there," I told him. He went over to our movies and seemed to find one that he liked. It was one of my favorites. Phantom of the Opera.

"I love this movie!" I exclaimed.

"Me too, its one of my favorites." I looked at him in awe. "What?" He asked.

"I've never found a guy willing to admit that."

"Well I'm not just some guy," He said.

"Your right, your so much more," I said while looking up at him.

"How much more?" He asked stepping closer to me.

"Your one of the best guys I've met."

"Well, you know what?" He asked, slowly bringing his head down, "your one of the best girls I've ever met."

"Prove it," I told him. And with that, our lips touched, just for a second. Then he pulled back looking in my eyes to make sure it was okay, and I kissed him again.

"Bella?" He asked me when we pulled away again.

"Yes?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked shyly.

"Of course," I told him smiling.

We went to go watch our movie. When it was done we just sat there talking for a few minutes when my mom got home. Mike left after my mom got home and I walked him to the front door and gave him a kiss bye.

"How was your date?" I asked my mom.

"It was great. Phil wants to start seeing me again. And told him that we can. After a few more dates he might ask me to be his girlfriend again! How was your evening with Mike?"

"So much fun. We watched a movie. And guess what? He kissed me! And after that he asked me to be his girlfriend. I'm so happy mom."

"That's great sweetheart. So Ellie was good too?" She made sure.

"Of course. She's always good."

"That's great. Well I'm going to go to bed now. So I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait, mom can I go with Steph tomorrow for auditions for a band she wants to join?" I asked.

"I see no problem with that. Ok, well good night Bella."

"Good night mom."

I went up to my room now and went to go find my cell phone. It said I had three new text messages. One from Edward telling me to have fun with Mike, one from Steph telling me to call her when he leaves, and one from Mike sent just a few minutes ago saying he had a lot of fun with me.

I messaged each of them back, I told Cam thanks, I told Steph I'll call her in just a minute. And I told Mike that I had a lot of fun too and that I'm so glad I can officially say he's my boyfriend now.

Then I picked up my phone, deciding that I better call Steph now or else she would kill me.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey Steph."

"So tell me, what happened!"

"Nothing…"

"Your lying! I can hear it in your voice! Now tell me!"

"Fine, well after I put Ellie to bed, I came downstairs and suggested we watched a movie."

"Then what happened?"

"Well he went to pick one out, and he chose Phantom of the Opera. And I told him it was one of my favorites, and he said it was one of his too."

"Aw that is so sweet," She gushed.

"Well yeah, well we were being a gushy and what not, and well, he kissed me!" At that she shrieked into the phone.

"Oh my God! And what did you do?"

"He pulled back really fast looking worried that I didn't want him to kiss me. But then I kissed him right after that, so I guess he got that it was okay. And you'll never guess what he did right after that."

"Tell me!"

"Guess."

"Umm did he try and go farther? Please tell me you told him no!"

"He didn't do that don't worry."

"Umm. I really don't know. Tell me please."

"Okay, he asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Oh my God!!! You said yes right?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

"That is so awesome. But hey, I've got to go, so I'll see you tomorrow. Come by around noon and we can go to the auditions."

"Alright. Good night Steph. Sweet dreams."

"Good night. You too."

After she got off the phone I went to go lay down for bed. I was really tired. And I needed my energy to keep Steph calm for the auditions tomorrow. I fell asleep thinking about everything that had happened that day. I still couldn't believe it.


	12. Auditions

Chapter 11

My phone rang at 11 in the morning. I looked at the caller I.D and saw that Steph is calling me.

"Hello?" I asked in a groggy voice.

"Hey! When are you coming over?"

"Um, my alarm didn't go off. I set it, but I must have slept right through it. Give me like an hour and I should be over there."

"Okay. Make sure you hurry up. Jonathon should be calling me anytime now to tell me how to get to his house. And I definitely don't want to be late on my auditions."

"Well if you want me to come over, I should probably go now. I need to take a shower and then I should be over as soon," I told her.

"Alright. Bye!"

"Bye Steph."

So I went to the bathroom to go take a shower. I rushed through washing my hair, and I only let the conditioner sit for a couple of minutes in my hair, so that's bound to be knotted. After about ten minutes in the shower I got out.

I brushed through my hair, realizing if I wanted to make it to her house in an hour, then I don't have time to blow dry it. I looked through my cabinets, searching for the stuff to scrunch my hair. I found it and put it in my hair, brushed my teeth, did my make up, and I was ready to go.

"Bye Mom!" I called as I was leaving.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I'm going to Steph's house. She has her auditions today for the band. She wants me to come to support her."

"Oh, okay then, wish her luck for me."

"Will do, bye!"

So I was out of the house then, walking towards Steph's house.

_I wonder if she will make it in the band___I thought to myself.

I only had to walk down the road a little ways before I got to her house. I was surprised to see that she was already outside waiting for me.

"Hey Bella!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey Steph, you excited?"

"Yeah, I am, but I'm really nervous too. What if they don't like my voice?" She asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they will, they would have to be crazy not to love your voice. You may not be able to do screaming and stuff, but it still sounds beautiful. Just take a deep breath and calm down, you will do fine."

She did what I said, and I saw the words begin to sink in a little bit. I started to see her visibly relax.

"Do you think they will like me then? Like as a person, not necessarily as a singer.?"

"I'm sure they will. I don't know why they wouldn't, your awesome, and crazy, and you're a ton of fun to be around. Stop stressing now, your going to do fine."

"Okay, one last thing, what about Jonathon? He will make me really nervous. I'm scared to just talk to him, let alone sing in front of him!"

"Just don't look at him while your singing, look at me, you've sang in front of me before, you shouldn't be nervous about that."

"I know I shouldn't, but I just really want this, from what I've heard, they are really good, this actually might be a shot for the big time."

"Well we don't know that yet, lets have you guys get your first actual gig before you start talking about big time. But I'm sure you will get in."

"Thanks, okay, sorry but I have ONE more thing to worry about, then I will shut up."

"Okay what is it?" I asked.

"Do I look okay? I don't look like I'm trying to hard do I?"

"Trust me, you look fine. Great in fact. Jonathon won't be able to keep his eyes off you. You did really good on your outfit."

"Alright, I'll trust you, he should call any minute now with the directions."

As if right on cue, her cell phone rang. It was a phone number she didn't recognize, so we assumed it was him calling.

"Hello?" She asked.

I couldn't hear what he was saying, I could only hear Steph's responses of yes's and no's and her saying that she knows where that is. So I'm assuming he is giving her directions on how to get to his house. After a few minutes she hung up the phone and looked at me.

"So are you ready?" She asked me.

"Aren't I supposed to be asking you that?"

"Ha ha I guess so, but come on, let's go, we're going to be late."

So we got in her car and she started to drive.

"So where does he live?"

"Actually not very far, you know the little coffee shop right up the street? He lives down the street from that. If I wanted to I could walk there in under 30 minutes probably."

"Oh that's not far at all. At least you won't end up wasting a whole lot of gas for the band meetings."

"That is true. But before we start talking about band meetings, lets make sure I will actually make it in."

"Okay."

"Well, here's his house. God, I'm so nervous. I still look okay right?" She panicked.

"Trust me, you look just fine. Now go in there, and amaze them all with your voice."

"Here goes nothing," She said.

And with that we got out of the car and made our way up to the garage. The whole band was already in there waiting for us to arrive.

"Hey Steph, hey Bella," Jonathon said.

"Hey," Steph said shyly.

"So here's the band, I'm the bassist, Hayley is on the drums, and David is our guitarist. So what kind of singing can you do?"

"Well, I'm not too good at screaming and stuff, but I can do regular singing," She told him.

"Have you ever had lessons?"

"Yeah, and I still take them too. So I can read music well, and I have a very high range."

"That's better than most of us here Jonathon," Said the girl, Hayley, "When we first started, we could barely even read music. I think she'd probably be pretty good."

"Well we haven't actually heard her voice yet," David said.

"You do the screaming already David, and we do need a girl singer, to do all the high parts, so are you ready to sing now Stephanie?" Hayley asked.

"Sure. What do I sing?"

"Here, this is a song we wrote, so we need you to sight read, you will sing it by yourself. After you do this you can chose a song to sing that you feel comfortable with," Jonathon said.

So they handed her a sheet of paper with some words on it and her notes. She looked at it for a minutes and started singing. It wasn't the best that I've heard her sing, her voice was kind of shaky, probably because she was so nervous, and she was off on a few of the pitches. But considering she has never looked at the song before, she was doing really, really good.

As she was finishing the song, she finally looked up into everyone's faces. Everyone was staring at her in shock.

"What?" She asked, "Was is really that bad?"

"No! That was awesome. Out of all the people who have tried out for our band, you are defiantly the best! Now you chose a song," Jonathon said shocked.

I do have to admit, she was amazing. Even if I knew the song by heart, and knew all the pitches, I still wouldn't be able to do that well.

She did the song that she chose. This song was a lot better than the other one. I didn't know that it was possible for the band members to be even more shocked than they already were.

She finished her song and Hayley jumped up excitedly.

"Oh my gosh! Your amazing! I can't wait for you to be in out band!" Hayley exclaimed.

"So does that mean I made it?" Steph asked.

"Hayley knows that we need a band meeting before we can say that you made it, but we can pretty much say yeah your almost defiantly in," Said Jonathon.

"Awesome! So when is the first band meeting?"

"Remember technically your not in the band yet, even though you know you will be, so we will call you later and let you know all the details," David told her.

"Alright, so I guess I will see you guys at school on Monday then?"

"Yeah. Bye Steph, bye Bella."

"Bye," Both of us said at the same time.

So we left the garage and went in the car and as soon as we were out of hearing distance, she screamed.

"Oh my GOD! I can't believe it! I'm going to be in the band! This is so awesome!"

"I know Steph. You did great! I'm so proud of you! And the band members all seem pretty nice. That one Hayley chick was pretty cool, all perky and what not, she reminds me of you."

"Yeah she does. This is going to be awesome. Promise me you'll come to our shows right?" She asked.

"Of course I will!"

Just then my phone rang. I looked down at it to see my mom was calling me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey honey, do you think you can come home and watch Ellie for me? I need to go to the store."

"Sure mom, I'll be right home."

"Thanks sweetie."

And with that I hung up the phone and told Steph to please drop me off at my house.

When I got in the door, my mom rushed off, leaving me home with Ellie.

"So what do you want to do now El?"

"Umm I don't know. Lets watch a movie."

So I put in Cinderella for her to watch, one of her favorites. I sat there, reading a book while she was doing that until my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bella, its Steph."

"Oh hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted to go to church with us again tomorrow."

"Umm, not this week, maybe some other time…" I said hesitantly.

"Alright that's fine. Talk to you later bye."

"Bye."

I really did have fun at church with her last week, but I didn't want to start making it a regular thing just yet. Its really fun, and I'd like to start going on a regular basis sometime, but not yet.

Right about that time my mom walked through the door.

"Hey honey, is Ellie asleep yet?"

"No, she's in the living room watching Cinderella. Its not late yet mom, why would she be asleep?"

"I don't know, I was thinking that it was a lot later than it really is I guess. This day has just been going by so slow for me. So anyways, how was Stephanie's auditions?"

"She did awesome. She made it into the band, she is so excited."

"That's really great, I'm happy for her. So when does the band meetings start?"

"We aren't sure yet. But the people in the band seem really nice and they seem to get along with Steph really well. So that works out well."

"That sounds really good. Well I'm going to go make dinner for me and Ellie, are you hungry?"

"No mom, thanks though. I think I'm going to go upstairs and go read or something. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, your's and Ellie's appointments are tomorrow for the DNA test, so don't make any plans."

"Okay, thanks mom, I'm going to go now."

"Alright, bye honey."

So I walked up the stairs to my room. I picked up the latest book I had been reading and I just laid there until I must have dozed off. The next thing I remember is waking up at about eleven o clock at night to my cell phone ringing.


	13. Author's Note

A/N

Okay you guys. I've said this before but I'm still getting questions about it. This story, is a story that I wrote, not about twilight. Its about characters, Jenny, Cam, Brad, and others. So in this story Jenny=Bella, Cam (or Cameron) =Edward, and Brad=Mike. I seem to be missing a few of the names and I keep getting questions on that. I'm sorry, so there you go.


	14. What's in my blood test?

Chapter 12

"Hello?" I asked in a groggy voice. Who could be calling me this late?

"Hey Bella. Its Mike."

"Oh hey. What's up?" I asked trying to sound awake.

"Not much. Is your mom asleep yet?"

"Umm I'm not to sure. Why?"

"Well, I was wondering, have you ever snuck out of your house before?" He asked me, in a very rebellious tone.

"Honestly, no, what do you want me to?"

"First go see if your mom is asleep," He told me.

So I went into the living room. She wasn't in there. So I tip toed into her room, and she was sound asleep in her bed.

"Yeah she's asleep."

"Sweet. So do you want to then?"

"Well I've never done it so I don't really know how to," I told him honestly.

"Oh really? Well then I guess we need to change that. What don't you know?"

"What if she comes in to my room?" I asked worriedly.

"Stuff your bed with pillows. It's worked for me. Then just tip toe out the back door and make a run for it. You don't have an alarm do you?"

"No. I guess I can try it. What are you wanting to do?"

"There is this big party one of the guys from the team are throwing. There parents aren't home. It sounds like a lot of fun. Do you want to go?"

"Sure! That sounds awesome. When are you going to pick me up?"

"Be by the park at your house in an hour. I will be there. Call me before you leave though, I don't want you waiting at that park a long time by yourself," He explained.

"Okay. I'll call you soon. Thanks."

"Okay, bye Bella."

We hung up the phone then and I went into the bathroom to see myself in the mirror. I needed a lot of work to do if I wanted to be ready for a high school party soon. So I went to my room and started on picking out my clothes. Nothing looked right. But eventually I settled on this cute black skirt, and a blue tank top, with a half jacket over it. I searched through my closet looking for my heels, and eventually I found my blue ones that went perfectly with my shirt.

After that was over I went to the bathroom. I rushed my teeth and then started on my hair. I took a straightening iron to my already pretty straight hair. But I wanted to smooth out the little bit of curls I did have.

Eventually though, I was ready for my makeup. I kept it pretty subtle, but went more for the Stephanie look with the eye make up. I put a little red on my lips, a little blush, some foundation, my eye liner, my glittery blue eye shadow, and my mascara. Finally though I was ready to go.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was about time to call him. So I went into my room and stuffed pillows and blankets in my bed to make it look like I was sleeping in it. After I finished that, I quickly went downstairs and went to the back door.

I checked our security system and saw that it was disabled. So I pulled out my cell phone and called Mike.

"Hey," He answered.

"Hey, I'm at my backdoor. You want me to leave now?" I asked.

"Sure, I'm about at the park. Go ahead."

"Okay, see you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

So I went out the back door. And quietly shut it. I watched my house for and evidence that my mom or Ellie woke up. There wasn't. So I quickly walked out of the yard and into the road, making my way down to the park.

I could see why Mike didn't want me to walk alone down there. It was pretty spooky. So I just kept my pace fast and within a few minutes, I was at the park. Mike's car was already there, so I went ahead and hopped in his car.

"Hey you," He said.

"Hey."

"You look great. I've never seen you wear a skirt before. Or heels for that matter."

"Yeah I usually don't like to wear them, but tonight seemed like a good night to. So I did."

"Well I have to admit, I'm glad you did, it looks great."

"Thanks," I said. "So where is this party at?"

"You know Tyler? His house."

"Alright. I have no idea where that is though. So how big is the party?"

"It shouldn't be huge. The football players, and their girl's pretty much. We didn't want to risk getting the cops called on us or anything."

"Umm what about drinking and stuff? Is there going to be any of that do you think?" I asked him.

"Maybe, probably, but no one will pressure you to do anything, don't worry."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked.

"Yeah, and if anybody does. Just tell me, I'll make sure they don't try to do that again."

"Alright, thanks."

"You've never been to an actual party have you?"

"Sure I have."

"Were parents there?" He asked.

"Well no… but…"

"I didn't think so. Don't worry, you'll have fun. I'll be there with you the whole time.

"Thanks. So I take it you've been to a lot?"

"Yeah, defiantly, I've been known to be a party guy a lot. They are a lot of fun."

"Oh okay."

We started to run out of things to talk about. I started thinking, and I wondered if maybe it bothered me having such a party boyfriend. Well I would have to get over it because there was no way I could change him.

"Alright, well we're here," He told me.

And then I saw the house that we were at. Music blaring from the house, people hanging around outside, seeing people dancing inside through the windows.

"Wow…" Was all I could say.

"Yeah. Looks like this is going to be a good party." And with that he took my hand and led me inside. He took me into the kitchen and he grabbed a drink for himself. I saw what he had and I grimaced to myself, he had a beer.

"Do you want one?" He asked me.

"No thanks. I don't like drinking."

"Okay."

So we went into the front room, there were people playing beer pong, and others dancing, and some just on the couch making out.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked. I didn't see any harm in that.

"Sure," I told him.

So an upbeat song came on, one that I didn't know but I had heard it on the radio. We danced to that song, and then to another when he excused himself into the kitchen to get another drink.

I went with him this time, and saw some lemonade in a bottle and decided to go ahead and get some lemonade. I opened it and took a sip and found out it wasn't lemonade.

"Mike, what is this?" I asked him.

"I thought you weren't a drinker?" He asked.

"I'm not, I just wanted some lemonade. What's this?"

"That is lemonade, but it has some alcohol mixed in with it," He explained.

"How much alcohol?"

"Just a little bit, it shouldn't really do anything to you."

"Alright then. I guess just one of these can't be to bad then."

So I went ahead and drank some of it. It didn't taste to bad really, just a little off from regular lemonade. We went ahead back into the living room and I watched Mike play some beer pong. Eventually I ran out of my drink so I went to go get another one.

I rummaged around in the kitchen until I found something else. I didn't want more lemonade again, so this one looked like some kind of energy drink almost.

I went back into the living room and sat down drinking my drink while cheering Mike on. After he had enough of the game he came and sat down by me.

"What are you drinking?" He asked.

"Umm I'm not to sure what it is, but it taste's really good."

"You do know that has 9.0 percent alcohol right? That's going to mess you up."

"No actually I didn't know that. But I've already had half of it, and I feel fine, I should be okay."

"Alright if your sure Bella."

"So what time is it?" I asked him.

"Its almost 3. We still have another two hours or so before we need to get you home. After you finish your drink, go ahead and go get some water so you can be a bit sobered up when you get home."

So I tilted my head up and finished the last bit of drink I had.

"There, all finished," I told him.

"I didn't mean I wanted you to chug it, that's going to really mess you up," He said.

"Oh well. I'll just go get some water."

So I stood up and that's when I really felt it. I took a step and stumbled some. Mike looked at me worriedly.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little drunk I guess."

"Here, let me help you." And he put his arm around me to make sure I wouldn't fall. I told him thank you but the words got slurred a little bit, and the room looked like it was spinning a bit.

"How long does this last?"

"It shouldn't last too long for you, you didn't have that much and you're going to drink a lot of water. So you should be good in a hour and a half or two hours. Something like that."

"Oh okay." And then I just realized something. "How long does alcohol stay in your system?" I asked.

"About a week or so. Why?"

"Umm, because I have to go to the doctor tomorrow, and they need to draw some of my blood I'm pretty sure."

"Oh crap, umm I'm not sure what to tell you. Drink a lot of water, maybe you can get it all out."

"Alright, I'll try."

So that's how my first party ended up going. Me getting drunk by accident, and then freaking out. I can't even count how many times I ended up having to go to the bathroom, after all the water that I ended up drinking.

After a couple of hours though, we decided it was time to bring me home and for him to go home too.

We got in the car and it was silent for the ride home to my house. He pulled up to the park and leaned over to give me a kiss good bye. I smiled and gave him a kiss too, and then he tried to deepen it, but I pulled away, not wanting that while I was drunk.

So I quietly walked into the back door and went into the bathroom. I took all my make up off, and jumped in the shower. When I stepped out of the shower I looked over in the mirror and realized I would be needing some foundation to make it look like I got some sleep. So I went ahead and put that on.

After I finished that I went in my room and put my pajamas on. I looked at the time and saw that it was only 5:30 so I went to go lay down so I could get at least a few hours of sleep, after all, hour appointment wasn't until 2.

I laid down, probably only for a few minutes before I drifted off to sleep.

Ellie came in at about noon to wake up.

"Come on Bella, you've been sleeping all day, you need to go get ready for the doctor."

I opened my eyes and regretted it. The light was so bright and I had a splitting headache.

"Ugh," I moaned. My voices sounded cracked.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, throat ache, and my head hurts. Will you go get my some Motrin?"

"Sure, be right back."

So she disappeared into the hall bathroom and came back with a bottle of pills.

"These are the right ones right?"

"Yeah, thanks El, so what time are we leaving?"

"At about 1:30. You don't think they will give us a shot right?"

"Not a shot, they might have to draw blood, or it could be as easy as a piece of hair, I really don't know. I've never had to do this before."

"Will it hurt?" She asked.

"If they have to draw blood it will probably sting a little bit, but no that doesn't really hurt."

"Okay good. Well you should probably go get ready, you look so tired."

"Yeah, I'm going to go do that, I'll see you later Ellie."

Ellie left my room then and I went and looked in the mirror. My hair had some curl in it from me sleeping in it while it was wet, and my eyes looked sort of red like I hadn't slept, but besides that I looked well enough.

I walked downstairs to go get my breakfast. After I had poured my cereal and eaten it I looked at the time. It was about time to go.

"Are you ready?" My mom asked.

"Sure!" I yelled back, but instantly regretted it, feeling the throbbing head ache.

We walked out to the car and I got in the front seat and Ellie in the back. I leaned my head against the window closing my eyes trying to block out the sun until we finally pulled up to the hospital.

We ended up not having to wait in the waiting room, since the doctor's office was pretty empty today. So we walked in and Ellie and I took a seat waiting for the doctor to come in.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Davids. Are you to ready to see if your sisters or not?" He asked.

"Umm how do you do that?" Ellie asked nervously.

"Its quite simple, we take a little sample of your blood, and we go look at the DNA. It doesn't hurt, its nothing like getting a shot," He explained.

"Well… Okay."

This wasn't good for me. I'm sure I still had plenty of the alcohol in my system, but there wasn't anything I could do to change it.

He went into the drawer and got out a needle, and some sterilizing cloths.

"Alright this might sting, how about you go first Isabella to show Ellie that it doesn't hurt."

So I stuck out my arm and he wiped it clean. He poked the needle in my arm and I didn't even flinch as he started taking blood.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Ellie asked, fear evident in her eyes.

"Not if you don't think about it, if you think about something else."

"What are you thinking about?" Ellie asked.

"Lots of stuff, mostly about school and my friends. But you can think about books and movies too. That can get your mind off of it. Just be brave."

She worked up the courage and she went to go sit on the chair that I just got off of. She closed her eyes and started crying just a little bit when he stuck her with the needle.

"Count to twenty slowly and it should be over by fifteen," The doctor told her.

I could see her counting, and I became more worried about getting caught as he took the needle from her arm and took our tests back there.

We sat there waiting in silence, lost in our own thought for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. Finally the doctor came back.

"Well you two, looks like you guys are only half sisters," He told us smiling. "Mrs. Swan, may I see you for a minute?"

I started worrying, I knew what this was about. So I sat there for the next few minutes freaking out. Finally she came back, not looking happy at all.

"Come on you two, its time to go home now."

So we walked back out to the car, both of us knowing to stay quiet, we could tell something was wrong with our mom. The car ride home was brutal, the silence eerie, and especially scary for me knowing how much trouble I would be in when we got home.

**(No new chapters till i get 7 reviews)**


	15. Not this again

Chapter 13

We pulled up to the house and quickly got in the door. Ellie walked upstairs, knowing she didn't do anything wrong, and I tried to do the same before my mom caught me.

"Isabella Swan! Where do you think your going?"

"To my room, I uhh was going to put myself on punishment."

"You get back here! Now would you like to explain to me what happened? And no lying!"

Suddenly I found tears in my eyes and I looked down ashamed of myself. I couldn't believe I had been such a idiot as to be out drinking.

"Well, last night I was going to bed, and then I got a call at eleven. Mike asked me to go to a party with him and I said sure. Not thinking it was a big deal to sneak out."

"That's not the part I'm worried about, honestly you don't have much of a curfew, your 16 your old enough to make smart decisions, or at least so I thought!"

"Well, yeah, and I went and got ready, and went out the back door, to go to the park to meet him," I explained.

"And?"

"Well we drove to Tyler's house, and it didn't seem to wild. So Mike and I went to go get drinks, he got a beer and I didn't get anything. I really didn't want to drink. But after awhile I got thirsty, so I went to go look in the cooler for something that isn't alcohol, and I found some lemonade."

"Didn't you read the label?"

"Honestly no, which was bad judgment on my part, but I took a sip and I thought it was caffeinated or something, I really didn't think anything of it, until Mike told me that had alcohol in it. And then I decided it wouldn't have to much of an effect on me. But then it started to make me drowsy so I went to get an energy drink. That turned out to be an energy beer."

"So it was pretty much all an accident?"

"Yes and no, remember Mike told me the lemonade had alcohol."

She looked furious. I hated myself right now for making my mom disappointed at me. But it was to late to do anything about it now.

"Well young lady, I do have to say I'm surprised at you for doing this. I might just have to tell your father."

"Oh please don't do that mom, I don't want to disappoint him when he's over seas!"

"Your right about that one, but you are grounded for 3 weeks. That means no seeing Mike besides when he's baby sitting, no seeing Steph, not leaving the house unless I ask you to or for school."

"Yes ma'am I understand."

"Good, now go on up to your room."

So I slowly walked up the stairs, annoyed at myself. I got in my room and shut the door and called Mike.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey Mike, its Bella," I said, my voice cracking slightly.

"Oh hey baby, this isn't the best time," He started.

"Mike I'm grounded, for the next 3 weeks. I got caught with the blood test."

"What did your mom say?" He asked.

"I'm grounded for the next 3 weeks."

"I'm so sorry Hun, but I'm busy right now, I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, bye."

I sat down on my bed and cried. I've only been here about a month and I already got myself in horrible trouble. I couldn't believe it.

"Bella?" There was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said.

Ellie stepped in my room and came over and gave me a hug.

"What are you and mommy fighting about?" She asked.

"Stuff your to young to worry about, I did some bad stuff, and now I'm in trouble."

"Oh, I understand. One time, I wouldn't clean my room and mommy and me started fighting, and I got grounded for 2 whole days."

"Well its something like that. Why don't you go see if mommy will play with you or something, I need to do my homework."

"Okay, bye Bella."

I went over to my desk and pulled out my books. I started to work on math, but I couldn't concentrate. But eventually I got it all done. I looked at the time, it was still only 6, to early to go to bed yet.

To kill some time, I went to go take a shower, I took my good sweet time washing my hair twice and conditioning it. Getting all washed off, singing in the shower till eventually I had nothing left to do.

I dried off with a towel and wrapped up and went to my room. I went in my dresser and picked out my most comfortable pajamas. After I got changed I went back into the bathroom and started trying to get a brush through my hair. Eventually though, I finished doing that and I went to go check the time. It was 7 now, I could go eat some dinner, then do some reading and it should be late enough to go to bed then.

I went downstairs and started to make me some food. I decided to make some burgers and fries. Those took awhile to make, and it should kill enough time to go to bed. I searched through our freezer until I found some burgers so I turned on the mini grill and the mini fryer to wait for them to heat up so I can have my dinner.

While that was cooling my mom came in to talk to me.

"Hey mom," I greeted her.

"Hey sweetie. So I'm sorry your grounded, but you need to learn that you will respect me, and that you are to young to be going out partying and drinking."

"I know that mom. And I'm not complaining. The only thing I wish is that I would still get to see Mike. But it'll be okay."

"Well Bella, if you promise me not to do anymore partying, then I will take some dinners and stay out a little bit later so you can see him."

"Really mom? You'd do that?" I asked appalled.

"Yes honey, I'm not against you, I want you to be happy. Just learn that if I catch you dong something like that again, I will not be so lenient."

"Yea ma'am I know. Thank you so much."

So I finished eating my food, this time in a much better mood and went upstairs. I picked up the phone to call Mike and tell him my good news.

"Hello?" He answered, sounding very annoyed.

"Hey."

"Honey I said I'm busy, what do you need?"

"My mom said that she'd stay out late tomorrow so we can still hang out, if your not to busy," I said.

"That's awesome baby, but look I'm busy. I'll see you in school tomorrow."

And he rushed to get off the phone. And just clicked the off button. I couldn't believe he could be so rude!

I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and decided to go ahead and go to bed. Mike just ruined my good mood, and I didn't want anything to make it worse.

I woke up the next morning on my own about 5 minutes before my alarm went off. But when it did I went ahead and got up to get ready. After a long morning of trying to get ready, finally it was about time to go.

"Ellie, your ready to go?" I called.

"Yeah, let me get my book bag!"

"Alright well, I'll be in the car."

I went outside to go ahead and start the car. It was a bit chilly outside so I wanted to warm it up. I waited for just a few minutes before Ellie opened the door to get in.

"So did you and mom make up last night?" She asked me.

"Yeah we did. Thanks. I'm still in trouble but its not as bad as before."

We were off then to drive her to school.

"Just to let you know El, mom is going to be home late tonight so it will be Mike and I watching you for awhile."

"Okay."

The car ride was silent, I was to busy worrying about what had Mike so worried last night. We pulled up to the elementary school.

"Bye El, see you after school, have a good day!"

"Bye Bella."

I drove off up the road to the high school. After I pulled in I walked over to try and find Mike. I looked all around where he usually was but I couldn't find him. So I went to go find Edward instead.

"Hey Bella," Edward greeted me.

"Hey Edward."

"What's wrong? You look upset."

"Nothing, I'm just worried Mike is mad at me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because last night when we were talking on the phone he just like hurried to get off the phone and sounded man. And now I can't find him. I'm just worried he's mad at me."

"Did you do anything to make him mad at you?"

"Not that I'm know of. I'm sure its just my mind playing tricks on me. I'm sure everything is fine."

"If your sure. Well then I'm going to go find Tanya," He told me.

"Speaking of her, how did that ever happen?" I could even hear the slight jealousy in my voice.

"I'm not to sure, I never really liked her like that but then she asked me to go on a date with her and I said sure."

"So you don't really like her then?" I asked.

"No I do, it was just very unexpected."

"Oh, well let her know for me that if she hurts you, I'll hurt her," I told hem, feeling protective.

"Ha ha I'll make sure to do that. You know she's very jealous of you?"

"Why? She's the one going out with one of MY best friend's."

"She's afraid she'll lose me to you," He explained.

"That won't happen. I'm with Mike remember? It's fine."

"You might need to tell her that, she's trying to get me to stop talking to you. Its getting kind of annoying really."

"Okay. If I see her I'll talk to her or something."

"Thanks Bella. Well I'm going to go find her. See you in gym Bella."

"Bye Edward."

I looked at the clock and saw that it was late enough that I could go ahead and go to class. I went to my locker and put some of my stuff away and picked up some of my books and walked to gym.

Nothing really happened that day, so far until lunch. I walked into the lunch room to go sit by Steph. We were just sitting there eating until Jonathon came over.

"Hey Steph, hey Bella," He greeted us.

"Hey," We said in unison.

"So Steph, well the band and I decided that you would be an awesome singer for our band."

"Are you serious?" She asked.

"Yeah. We have band practices about three times a week, and we have our first gig in a little over a month. Will you be okay with that?"

"Totally! Thanks."

"No problem, I'll give you a call later and explain some more of the details."

With that he walked away. We waited until he was out of hearing range and then she looked at me and flipped.

"Oh my gosh! I'm in! And we have a gig in a month! How will I be able to pull that off?"

"Its okay Steph, it's a whole month, I'm sure you can learn some of the songs by then."

"I can't even begin to process that I got in! You don't know how relieved I am."

"I can tell. I'm excited for you."

I looked at the time and saw we had about 10 minutes left of lunch. We just kept talking about the band for another 10 minutes or so and then we left to go to our next classes.

The rest of the school day passed by slowly. Finally the last bell of the day rang, and it was time to go home. I got in my car and hurried to get home, trying to get there before Mike.

I pulled into the driveway and saw that I made it home quick enough. I went upstairs and re did some of my make up and put on a little perfume, so that I would be decent when they came home. I only had a couple of minutes before they walked through the door.

"Bella?" Ellie called.

"Hey El, hey Mike," I walked over and gave Ellie a hug and straightened up and gave Mike a little kiss. He pulled away looking kind of guilty, but I assumed it was because of me getting grounded.

"What do you want to do Ellie?"

"I need to do my homework. I have lots."

"Alright, we'll be in here, call for us if you need anything." So she walked by us and into the kitchen to start.

"What's up? You've been acting kind of funny all day, haven't really talked to me," I tried to figure out.

"Oh sorry, I guess I'm just a little preoccupied. I feel bad about getting you grounded."

"Its fine. I would probably still sneak out with you again to see you."

"Really? Wouldn't you be afraid you would get in trouble?"

"I wouldn't have gotten caught last time if it wasn't for the drinking so I'm sure I would be able to handle it."

"What if I asked you to do it on a school night?"

"I would still do it, as long as we weren't out too awful late."

"So what if I asked you to do it tonight?"

"I would say sure."

"Then will you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I will, what time?"

"I would come by the park probably around 10. Is that late enough for your mom to be asleep?"

"It should be, she's in bed by 9 on days she has work the next day," I explained.

"Awesome. Well I should probably get in there with Ellie, I usually help her with her work, and I haven't yet."

"Alright, mom should be home a little later tonight, I'm going to go ahead and start on my homework."

"Okay."

So I went up to my room to go get my book bag and brought it downstairs to the kitchen table to where Ellie and Mike were doing their's.

We sat there for a couple of hours before we were all done, and I looked at the time and saw that my mom was due to be home anytime now. After just a few more minutes of talking I heard the front door open.

"I'm home!" My mom called.

"We're in the kitchen mom!"

My mom walked into the kitchen to where we were all putting our stuff away.

"Hey you guys, how was your day?"

"Good your's Mrs. Swan?" Mike asked.

"Its been good, thank you Mike. Ellie will you go into the living room for a minute, I need to talk to Bella and Mike."

"Sure mommy," She said as she was walking away.

"Alright Mike, you know what you did wrong, and I'm sure you feel bad about getting Bella in so much trouble, so I'm not going to sit here and lecture you, just know that if it happens again, you will not be baby sitting for me anymore."

"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry."

"Well as long as you know that. Well I'm tired so you can go ahead and leave, I'll see you tomorrow Mike."

"Alright bye Mrs. Swan."

So he walked out the door and I looked at the time. It was close to 9, so I should go make myself dinner and then it would be about time to go.

After eating, I saw my mom was already in bed and so was Ellie so I went ahead and called Mike.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey, they are in bed now, so are you ready?" I asked.

"Sure, give me about 5 minutes to get a head start and you can go ahead and leave."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

We hung up the phone and I went ahead to go stuff my bed. I went downstairs, and waited for a just a couple of minutes before I left. I opened the door and went outside quietly. After waiting a couple of minutes, I ran, and didn't stop until I got to the door.

"Hey baby," Mike said when he saw me.

"Hey," I told him giving him a kiss. After I kissed him he held me tight to him, like he never wanted to let go. I felt so safe right here in his arms.

"Hey Bella?" He asked.

"Yes Mike?"

"I think, I think I love you," He said nervously.

I could feel myself freeze in his arms, that scared me, I wasn't sure if I loved him yet, but luckily I didn't have to respond, because my phone rang, I looked at the caller ID and saw that my mom was calling me. Looks like I had been caught.

"Hello?" I answered nervously.

"Isabella Swan! Get your butt back here right now, go ahead and have Mike drive you! Don't even bother lying to me I saw you leave!"

"Yes ma'am."

I hung up the phone and I looked over at Mike.

"We've been caught," I told him.

"Oh God. How long do you think you'll be punished?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure your going to get fired. I'm so sorry Mike."

"Its not your fault. We've probably got to go ahead and get you home."

We drove the couple of minutes home in silence, neither of us wanting to say anything. Finally though we pulled up to my house. We walked through the door to see my mom already sitting on the couch waiting for us.

"I can't believe you two!" She told us.

"I'm sorry mom."

"No don't say sorry. I forgave you last time, this time you both deliberately went behind my back! You can say good bye to your job Mike!"

"Yes ma'am I understand, but don't be mad at Bella, its not her fault."

"And why isn't it?"

"It was my idea," He told her.

"Well she didn't have to say okay, its just as much her fault as it is yours."

"Please don't ground Bella any longer than she already is."

"Oh she's going to get grounded, for another two weeks, and you can go ahead and leave now Mike. I won't be seeing you for awhile now."

"Yes ma'am, I'm so sorry."

He walked out the door, and as soon as he was gone a felt myself break down into tears.

"Bella, no point in crying. Your grounded, I won't ground you from everyone and your still grounded for the next three weeks, but the two following that your only grounded from Mike."

"But mom its not fair!"

"It is fair Bella, and I think I'm being pretty east considering the circumstances, so go ahead and go on upstairs to bed."

I turned away and trudged up to my room and picked up my phone to call Steph. She didn't answer so I called Edward.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Edward, its Bella."

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Me and my mom got in this huge fight." And I continued to explain to him everything we had been fighting about, the drinking, the sneaking out everything.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry, I'm sure everything will be alright. I'm here if you need to talk."

"I know you are, thanks I just think I needed someone to spill everything to. I think I'm going to go ahead and go to bed."

"Alright good night Bella, see you tomorrow."

So I went ahead and hung up the phone and went to go take a shower to calm myself down. After awhile though, I felt the new tears start up again. But eventually those died down.

After my shower and I put on my pajamas I went ahead and went to lay down. After just lying there for a few minutes, I fell asleep, tired after all the crying I had been doing.


	16. Sorry

Okay people, I don't want to but it seems like not to many people are liking the story. People aren't giving me reviews. So until people prove to me that they like it, its going to be discontinued. If I decide to start posting again, I will delete this A/N and post a new one saying I am going to start it back up again. I'm sorry, I love writing for you guys, but not if I don't know people are loving it. Review this if you want me to continue it, if I see enough people reviewing then I will continue. Sorry you guys.


	17. Alright, thanks

Alright you guys. I've decided I will keep up this story, I've gotten quite a few reviews, and a couple of death threats too. So apparently you guys do like it, but to those of you who are just reading and not reviewing, please review, I'll get the chapters up faster. Thank you guys who have been staying loyal and put up with all that. And how about this, guess what you think will happen in the next chapter, whoever is closest will get a nomination on the next chapter. I will be doing that each chapter.


	18. To much stress

Chapter 14

My alarm went off the next morning and rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. It was time to get ready for my day of punishment. I looked at my clock, it read 6:00, which means I needed to get up if I wanted to be ready for school on time. I dragged myself out of bed and went to go look at my closet to pick out some clothes to wear today. I just pulled out some of my favorite jeans, with my Vans, an old shirt and a hoodie. If today was a bad day for me, then I at least want to be comfortable.

After I had all my clothes together I went and got into the shower I turned the heat up high enough, that it actually slightly burnt my skin, but it made me forget about the grounding that I was facing. I washed my hair with my fruity shampoo, and conditioned it with the same brand of stuff, and washed my body. I eventually ran out of stuff to do, but the water was still hot so I just let it run over me, until I could feel it growing cold.

I turned off the water and stepped out, surprised at the cold that suddenly rushed at me, and dried off. I wiped off some of the fog on the mirror, and looked closely. I had a red rim around my eyes, from crying, but besides that I looked fine. That should be pretty much gone by the time school started today.

I walked over to where my clothes were and got dressed, and when I finished that I walked back over to my counter and got out my blow dryer. I worked on that, trying to get it straight as it dried, in the end I had most of it, only a few waves here and there. I went downstairs to go get some breakfast, I poured some cereal and sat down to eat it, as I was about halfway done my mom came downstairs.

"Morning Mom," I told her.

""Good morning honey, how are you?"

"Okay, I guess. Look Mom, I'm really sorry about last night. I truly am."

"Its alright Bella, we all make mistakes, I'm not mad at you anymore."

"So does that mean I'm not grounded anymore?"

"Of course your still grounded! You went behind my back and did exactly what I told you not to do, your still grounded. For the next 5 weeks. You can see all your friends except for Mike after three weeks do you understand? I don't even approve of you guys going out anymore, but I'm not going to try and change that, but if I hear any more of you two sneaking out, then you can say good bye to him for good. Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm so sorry," I told her morosely.

"Like I said, I forgive you this time. Just don't let it happen again."

I finished my cereal and went back upstairs to put on my make up, and brush my teeth. When I finished that I saw that it was just a little after 8, so I called Ellie to see if she was ready.

"Ready El?" I called.

"Yeah, hold on."

I went out into the car to start it while I waited for her to come out. After waiting about 5 minutes she finally came out.

"Finally," I said as she got in the car.

"Sorry," She said simply.

We drove in silence, feeling tension in the air when I finally couldn't take it any longer.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked her.

"You made it so Mike can't play with me anymore."

"So your mad at me then?" I tried to figure out.

"Yes. He was my friend."

"Yeah but Ellie, he's MY boyfriend I lo- like him a lot," I stopped myself.

"So? He was my friend first. It's not fair. I wish you didn't move here. I had fun every day he came over, but since you got here, every time you got there he's been trying to be responsible and making me do my homework right away and not playing with me, and spending all his time with you."

"I'm sorry Ellie I didn't realize that. I'll try and talk to mom, but I don't think she'll change her mind, but we will have a lot of fun after school now, I promise. We will watch movies and I will do your hair and make up, and maybe even if I can convince mom, I'll take you shopping."

"Your just trying to make me not mad at you."

"Is it working?" I asked.

"Sort of," She laughed.

"Well good. You're my little sister, even if you're my half sister, you still share my DNA, so I have to deal with you the rest of my life and I can't do that if your mad at me over a guy. Don't girls usually wait a little older until they start fighting about guys?"

"I guess. Thanks Bella. I'm sorry for getting mad. Even though I am a little mad still. I'm sure you'll be a fun baby sitter."

"I will I promise El. So here's your school. I'll be here to pick you up right after school. Have a good day! Bye!" I told her as she climbed out of the car.

"Bye Bella! I love you."

"Love you too."

I watched as she walked away to go catch up to her friends, and sighed as I drove away. I couldn't believe that I upset her that bad with my own mistakes. But she seems like she'll be okay now, and after I get off grounding, I'll have Brad come over sometimes to play with Ellie.

I drove until I saw the high school. I pulled up to the parking lot and reached into the back seat and got my book bad and purse. I walked up to the school to go try and find Mike. I spotted him very quickly talking to the head cheerleader Jessica.

"Hey baby," I said giving Mike a hug, and shooting Jessica a dirty look.

"Hey Bells," He said, pulling me in for a kiss.

"So I tried talking to my mom, nothing, I can't hang out with you for five weeks. I can hang out with people after three."

"What about me baby sitting?"

"No, your fired. At least for the time that I'm grounded."

"Seriously? Who's she going to get to take my place?"

"Me probably. Probably as part of my punishment. Ellie really is mad at me for making it so you can't baby sit her anymore."

"Really. I'm sorry."

"No its not your fault, it happens."

"Yeah, well I should go, the bell is going to ring soon, I'll see you in math."

He walked off with Jessica with him, they must have first block together. I looked at the clock and saw there was still 15 minutes till we should have to go. He must have some sort of work to make up in those classes. I went to go find Steph.

She was in the same spot she usually was, but this time she had Haley with her.

"Guess what?"

"What?" I asked.

"Our first band practice is this weekend! I'm in! They love me!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah she is awesome. I'm glad we found someone as good as Steph, I just hope she can put up with how crazy we are sometimes," Haley told me.

"Trust me it will be fine. She is crazy too, so she'll be a great addition."

"Alright well I'll see you later Steph," Haley said as she walked away.

"Can you believe it? I'm in. They really liked me."

"I told you that you were great. But I won't be able to come with you."

"Why not?" She asked.

"I'm grounded."

"What for?"

"Well, I went to a party over the weekend, and I kind of, well I drank," I said, watching Steph's gaze change to disappointed, "And I got caught, and then last night I wanted to hang out with Mike, so I snuck out to see him, and got caught with that too."

"So how long are you grounded for?"

"Three weeks from my friends, five weeks from Mike."

"That's it?" She asked surprised.

"That's a long time. That's about a month."

"Yeah but if I got caught doing both of those things, my parents would ground me for a lot longer than that. Your lucky."

"I guess. But he's not even baby sitting anymore."

"Seriously? Your mom fired him?"

"Yeah, she's really mad at him."

"I don't blame her, that doesn't seem responsible of him at all."

"I guess, but it just doesn't seem fair. He didn't make me do those things, he just asked. I went along with it, but I'm still baby sitting her. And plus Ellie is mad at me now."

"Well, yeah, it seems like you kind of took Mike from her. She was friends with him first and it made her feel cooler that she was hanging out with someone older than her like that."

"I didn't think about it like that. I feel really bad now. Do you think I can convince my mom to let him baby sit again?"

"Maybe, after your done being grounded, hopefully."

"I hope so. Poor Ellie."

"Yeah I know, but she will be okay. But we should go get to out classes now, the bell is going to ring in a few minutes."

"Alright, I'll see you at lunch."

"Bye."

So we parted out separate ways and I headed for the gym room. I can at least talk to Edward in this class.

I went into the locker room, and got dressed quickly, hating being in here. After I got dressed I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I had to make sure I at least looked about as good as you can get in these uniforms. I looked awful of course, but so did anyone else. I went ahead and walked to go in my squad by Edward.

"So look who finally showed up. Took a long time to get dressed out didn't you?" Edward said.

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't realize how long it was taking me, I thought I was being quick I guess not."

"It's cool. So yeah, what ended up happening with your mom?"

"Nothing really. She's still really pissed, but she said she forgives me. But I'm still grounded from him for five weeks. But I can hang out with anyone besides him after three weeks."

"Well, your lucky then, that's not really that long at all. Be happy about that."

"I guess. It just sucks, I'm going to miss him, and he got fired, and Ellie is mad at me."

"Why is Ellie mad?" He asked.

"Because I got Mike fired. She looked up to him like a big brother, she cared about him and now he's gone, and its my fault."

"Bella, it will be okay. He loves you right?"

"How did you know he told me?"

"I didn't. I just figured you guys have said it by now. But if he does truly love you, the you guys will be able to deal with it. It just a little over a month right?"

"Yeah I guess your right. I can't believe he told me he loves me though."

"When did he say it?" He asked.

"Last night. Before we had been caught he told me."

"And what did you say?"

"I didn't respond. The phone rang telling me mom was calling. I wasn't sure what to say. I like him a lot, like a whole lot, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to say it."

"Does he know that?"

"No. It hasn't been brought up again. I don't want to bring it up, if he says something about it, I'll tell him I'm not ready, but until then, I'm not saying anything."

"Yeah don't say it unless you really do mean it, or else that could just wind up hurting him."

"I know that it would. I would never want to hurt him."

"I believe you. So what are you going to do about being grounded from him so long?"

"I really don't know. Like you said, if he loves me, it will work out."

"Yeah. Well we should probably be doing our exercises now, everyone else is."

"True. Thanks for talking to me Edward, today and last night."

"Its no problem at all Bella, I'm here for you, I really do care about you. You can talk to me anytime."

"Good to know."

With that I turned around and started doing my exercises before I lost to many points on my grade.

Eventually gym class ended and we were able to go get changed back into our clothes for our next bell.

I walked into the locker room, feeling a few eyes on me. I wasn't sure what they were thinking about, but obviously it was about me. I got dressed quickly and checked myself in the mirror and saw I looked alright. If I couldn't hang out with Mike for awhile, I at least wanted to look good when he saw me at school.

I went back out in the gym and waited for the bell to ring. I stood by the door, and as soon as the bell rang I was out of there. I rushed to second block, math class, to see Mike.

I got to class before he did, and I walked over to my usual seat, waiting for him to come. He came after a few minutes, looking slightly breathless.

"Hey baby," He told me.

"Hey yourself."

"This is going to be murder without seeing you for the next 5 weeks."

"I know it is, but your still going to stay with me right?"

"Of course. I love you. I said I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah you did," I said slightly hesitantly.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure? And how come you didn't say it back?"

"I'm sure, and I don't know Mike. I don't know yet."

"Oh. Alright."

Right around that time, before there was time for any more awkwardness, the teacher came in. I waited for Mike to pass me a note so we could keep talking, but he didn't. He must have been kind of upset with me, I don't blame him, I wouldn't tell him I loved him too.

I tried to focus on my math instead, though that was proving to be very hard. But minute by minute, the class passed, very slowly, but it did, until eventually it was time to go.

I went into the lunch room to have lunch with Steph. I looked around until I saw her and went to go sit down. We talked about the usual stuff that we usually do, though I'm sure she was just trying to distract me from Mike. Finally I worked up the courage to ask her.

"Hey Steph?" I started.

"Yeah?"

"Have you noticed how everyone has been looking at me sort of weird today?"

"Sort of. I wasn't going to say anything. What's up with that?"

"I'm not sure. I was going to ask you if you knew anything," I told her.

"Oh. Who knows. Probably just some rumor going around. Just ignore it, and it will die down."

"Alright. If you really think so."

We got back into talking about the usual. Mike, Jonathon, the band, until finally the bell rang. I rushed into class, and took my seat beside Edward, though we didn't have much time to talk since I was a little late to class.

The day just passed slowly, knowing that I wouldn't even have the pleasure of seeing Mike when I got home. So slowly, minute by minute, the day went by. Eventually, I was getting in my car to drive to Ellie's school to pick her up.

I pulled into the school, seeing Ellie waiting outside. I pulled the car up next to her and she jumped in.

"Hey El, how was your day?"

"Good. The teacher put me in time out."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I tried to show my friend what she was doing wrong with her finger painting, and I tried to show her the prettier colors. So I put them on her paper and the teacher got mad at me."

"Were you painting some of it for her."

"Yes, only cause she was doing a bad job. But then she started crying."

"You shouldn't do people's paintings for them Ellie, they like the color's their own way."

"Yeah that's what the teacher told me. So I said sorry, but I still had to sit in time out for 5 minutes."

"Well that's okay. Its only 5 minutes. Just don't do it again and you won't get on time out for that again."

"I'm not, don't worry. I hate time out," She said.

"I know. I hated them too. Well, we're home. How about you go do your homework and we will have all day to play after that."

"Okay!"

So we went into the house and sat at the kitchen table. She pulled out her books and started writing and re-writing her vocabulary terms. I started on my math, and biology homework. I worked and worked until I was finally done. I looked up at Ellie and saw that she was just about done too.

"Alright El, I'm going to go put my stuff away. What do you want to do when I get back?"

"Lets bake cookies!"

"Cookies?"

"Yeah! They're yummy. Please Bella? Your old enough to use the stove," She pointed out to me.

"Well alright then. I guess it wouldn't do to much harm."

"Thanks!"

I hurried on upstairs and put my books away. I changed my shirt, guessing that if I was cooking with Ellie, it might get somewhat messy, and when I was done with that I went back downstairs.

"Okay Ellie, you ready?"

"Yeah. Lets go look in the cook books."

"Sure. Do you know where mom keeps them?" I asked her.

"Yep. They're up here in the cabinet," She said while walking toward them.

"Okay. I'll get them, I'm sure they are too high up for you to reach." So I went and get them down, and picked up the one for cookies. I sat it down on the table and Ellie and I flipped through it. There were so many different kinds of complicated directions, we ended up deciding to stick with regular old fashioned chocolate chip cookies.

"Alright, Ellie, go change into some clothes you can get messy then come on down."

"Okay Bella."

I started pulling out all the ingredients until Ellie came back down stairs.

"Alright, so ready to get started now?" I asked.

"Yep. What do you want me to do?"

So I gave her the flour already poured into a cup for her to pour into a bowl. I kept giving her more ingredients until it was all done.

"So what do we do with the batter?" Ellie wondered.

"Well, you take little bits of it, and put it on a cookie sheet, roll it sort of like a ball, and just stick it on."

Ellie took a bit of the cookie dough and started rolling it. And after she rolled it, I showed her how to make it flat, and then she put it on.

"So just like that? All of them?"

"Yeah, just like that."

We kept doing that for the next half hour or so, considering I kept having to stop and help her, when she would need help flattening it.

Eventually though, we finished and I put the cookies in for about 20 minutes.

"Alright El, so Mom will be home soon, what do you want to do until then?"

"Lets just go watch some TV."

We went into the front room and I turned the TV onto some children's station that I've seen ser watching sometime before. I sat there with her until I heard the timer go off telling us the cookies were done.

"Hold on Ellie, I'll be right back. I need to go get the cookies and then we have to let them cool."

"Okay."

I went into the kitchen and found an oven mitt. I slipped it on and reached in and pulled out the golden brown cookies.

"So are they done?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah they are. But we need to wait until they cool then we can eat them."

"How long will that take?"

"Probably only about ten minutes."

"Okay!"

She went back into the front room and finished watching her show while I took the cookies off the rack and put them all in a little bowl. By the time I was done with that, they were just about cool.

"Ellie!" I called.

"Are they done?"

"Yeah. You can have one. But make sure to blow on it incase it is still a little hot."

She went ahead and took her cookie and ate it. Just a few minutes after that, Mom finally came home.

"Hey you two. How was your day?"

"Mine was okay. And yours?" I responded.

"It was pretty good."

"Alright. Well since you're here now, I'll go make some dinner."

I went into the kitchen and started putting a meal together. I made some chicken and mashed potatoes. It took me about an hour and after we were all done I went ahead and went upstairs to go to bed.

I laid down, thinking about all that happened. And felt tears coming to my eyes. Determined not to cry again, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I awoke to my Mom shaking me.

"Bella, honey, I need you to wake up. I need to talk to you."

Startled I automatically woke up. "What is it Mom?" I asked.

"Honey, I know your going to have a hard time believing this, and I know its going to hurt a lot. Remember that we are here for you."

"Mom, just tell me, what is it?"

"Its your Dad, Bella," She started.

"What about my Dad?"

"I'm so sorry to have to tell you this Bella. But, he's gone."

"No. that's not true! This is just another nightmare!" I exclaimed.

"I wish it was baby. I really do. But, I'm so sorry its not. We're all here for you, and support you in any way that we can."

"How could this of happened?" I asked, through my tears.

"I'm not sure yet honey, but it will be okay eventually. I know how hard this must be for you tight now. But he loves you. You'll make it through this."

"Mom, if you don't mind. Can I go call Steph? I need to talk to her."

"Sure sweetie. I'll be in my room, if you need me."

"Thanks mom."

She closed the door and I felt myself break down. I've never been through a worse pain. I could feel the sobs racking through me, each heave I take, causing a sharper pain to shoot through my chest. I picked up my phone to dial Steph's number.

"Hello?" She answered. Obviously I had woken her up.

"Steph," I started, she could hear the sobs in my voice.

"Bella? What's wrong?"

"Its my Dad. He's gone."

"What? How? When?" She asked.

"I'm not sure exactly what just happened. But my mom came in and told me that he was gone. I can't take this Steph. This is all too hard."

"Shh, its okay. You'll make it through this. And I'll be along with you every step of the way. You won't have to do this alone. I'm there for you to always cry to."

I didn't have anything to say to that, she just stayed on the phone with me until I cried all the tears I could cry for today. Eventually I had quieted down.

"Are you alright now?"

"No, but thanks for staying here with me, and helping me."

"Of course Bella, I'm always here for you. Here, tomorrow is Friday. How about we skip? My parents will understand and I'm sure your Mom will too. We can spend some time together, and talking."

"That would be awesome. Thanks Steph."

"No problem, so how about you go get some sleep now?"

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea."

"Alright. Well I'm here if you decide you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks again Steph. Bye."

"Bye."

We hung up the phone and I looked at the clock, it was about three in the morning. I decided to go ahead and go to sleep until Steph called me the next morning to hang out.

I woke up the next morning to a bright sky, I looked at the clock, it was only 8. I hadn't gotten much sleep at all, but Mom must have guessed I wasn't going to school because she didn't end up waking me up. I walked downstairs to see Mom sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me.

"How are you doing Bells?"

"About as good as any teenager would who just found out there Dad is dead."

"I know that it has to be really rough for you Bella. I won't make you go to school today, I'm sure that you don't want to face your class just yet. And I'll go ahead and take you off punishment, you can see Steph, and Edward, and Mike and them. I'm sure you need them right about now."

"Yeah Mom, thanks. I'm going to go ahead and hang out with Steph today. She didn't go to school today so she could stay with me."

"Well that was nice of her. Your lucky you have such a good friend."

"I know I am Mom. Thanks for taking me off grounding. I'm going to go get ready for Steph."

"Okay honey."

I went upstairs and started getting ready. I took a really fast shower and put on just a little bit of make up. I didn't even bother blow drying my hair. I got dressed and then I went ahead and called her.

"Hello?" She answered, already wide awake.

"Hey."

"Oh Bella, how are you?"

"Not good. At all. When can I come over?"

"Whenever you want. I'm already ready."

"Alright thanks, I'll be over there in just a few minutes."

"Okay. See you then."

"Bye."

I went downstairs to tell my Mom that I was leaving, and then I was out of there, taking the short walk down the road to Steph's house.


End file.
